A Promise Redeemed
by pspinler
Summary: Complete ! Akane dies at Jusendo, can Nabiki prod Ranma into redeeming himself ? PG for some language
1. Looking Back, Loss

Legally worthless disclaimer goes here. I'm not R. Takahashi. I  
don't even look like her. Why do you think I own any copyright on  
Ranma characters ?  
  
***  
  
Chapter 1 - Looking Back, Loss  
  
Scene - Hawaii, in trauma unit of hospital, a 24 year old Nabiki, a  
trauma nurse newly graduated from her residency, rushes a mangled  
Ranma from a small helicopter illegally landed on the hospital lawn to  
a gurney. The helicopter bears a label which reads "Nihou Tours" and  
is piloted by a a woman with long purple hair. The gurney is pushed  
by a long black haired man wearing coke bottle glasses and a white  
robe.  
  
As the gurney is rushed into the hospital, Nabiki opens a bloody  
hand to reveal a small box, still surrounded by some fibers of  
Ranma's pants, where she had cut them away earlier to reach and  
staunch a crushed femoral artery. The box is revealed to contain a  
gold band with a single diamond, with her name etched on the band.  
"Saotome, you still can't talk to women, can you. How long have  
you been carrying this ? Don't you dare die on me after what we've  
been through, you baka pervert. If the past six years mean anything  
at all, if your promise means anything, you can't."  
  
Her hand clutches the tattered box again. "Ranma, You need to survive  
to give this to me."  
  
*** 6 years ago, Nermia, Japan  
  
A bright, sunny day dawned over Nermia Ward. Birds sang, butterflies  
drifted past, and the sound of young children playing can be heard in  
the distance. The only martial arts challenge today was between the  
local masters of Martial Arts Bricklaying and Martial Arts Street  
Repair, both of which promised to repair more property than they  
damaged. The day dawned bright with promise.  
  
All in Nermia seemed effected, excepting one. Belying the promise of  
the day, a young man trudged alone down the main road into the  
district, wearing a worn backpack. The denizens of Nermia ward  
instantly recognized the trademark red Chinese shirt, black pants, and  
pigtail the figure wore. Yet something was missing, the almost  
palpable aura of confidence normally surrounding the figure was absent.  
Anyone who watched was struck by the image of a young man weighed down  
with concern or sadness, his shoulders slumped, his head hung, and his  
once bouncy stride was reduced to a slow, dragging, slog. Pain beyond  
his years seemed to etch itself into his face and his eyes only showed  
a dull empty gray.  
  
Ranma, for indeed it was Ranma, wondered briefly if the weather was  
mocking him on purpose. It seemed, again, to be entirely opposite the  
tenor of his day, as it had been the first time he arrived in Nermia  
from China. On that day, the weather was cold, gray, and rainy, yet  
it began one of the best things in his life. No, he had to stop, he  
couldn't think about that.  
  
Eventually, Ranma arrived at his destination, and paused briefly to  
read the sign, "Tendo Dojo of Indiscriminate Grappling." With a sigh,  
he adjusted his pack and prepared to enter. He really wished he  
wasn't alone for this. Pops, true to form, had run out on him as soon  
as they hit Toyko, saying he had to go tell his mother. The amazons  
were reopening the cat cafe. Hell, he'd even welcome Ryoga's company.  
The jerk had gotten lost long before leaving China, of course.  
  
He slowly opened the gate and walked up to the door. Entering the  
house, he paused to drop his pack and remove his shoes, and looked up  
to find Kasumi in the entryway.  
  
On catching sight of his face, Kasumi gasped. "Ranma, what happened ?  
Is Akane alright ?"  
  
"Kasumi, I ...", he was forced to pause a moment and swallow past the  
lump in his throat. "I need to talk to the family, please."  
  
***  
  
After what seemed an eternity of halting explanation of the events in  
Jusendo, Ranma was nearing the end of his tale. Ranma knelt across  
the table from the remaining Tendos, the pain and weariness etched  
deeply into his face brought into sharp relief by the slow trickle of  
tears which fell, unnoticed, from his eyes. In a flat, almost empty  
voice, he stated "at the end, I couldn't save her. By the time she  
regained her normal size it was too late. She died. Akane's gone."  
Distantly, Ranma recognized the voice as his own. It all seemed  
unreal, somehow, as if the person who said that was an entirely  
different person, and not Ranma at all.  
  
Across the table, the Tendo's reactions differed. For the first time  
since Ranma had known Soun, he was not crying or angry in the midst of  
a crisis. Instead, and worse, Soun seems to have shrunk in on himself  
and to have aged overnight, as if something vital had been sucked out  
of the man.  
  
Kasumi was not much better. For the first time ever, she was not  
ready with a smile. No "Oh my's", no reassuring words, came from her  
lips. She seemed frozen, unable to move.  
  
Nabiki seemed to be the only person there with any life left. Anger  
glared out at Ranma from behind her eyes, despite the tears glistening  
in her eyes as well. Already, she had noted the handle of the tanto  
Ranma has beneath his shirt, although the rest of her family seemed  
oblivious. Nabiki could see where Ranma was headed. Thoughts spin  
furiously in her finely tuned, if grieving mind.  
  
'Akane, I'm sorry' she thinks. 'I'm sorry I let this go on this long.  
I could have stopped this at any time. Worse, I encouraged the  
situation. I thought it was _fun_. I laughed at you, both of you.  
Gomen, Akane, Gomen. I didn't know. I promise you I will not allow  
this to get any worse. My ex-potential brother in law will not follow  
you, not yet. I will _not_ allow this.'  
  
Ranma slowly pulled the tanto from his shirt. Revealed to sight, it  
could be seen to be engraved with the Saotome family crest. Formally,  
he lays it on the table in front of him and bows. "Please accept my  
apology for my failure to protect your daughter. I, I have little  
else to offer you."  
  
Nabiki was the only one of the three watching to react. In a strike  
snakelike in it's rapidity, she reaches across the table and slaps  
Ranma as hard as she can. "You think this would make it _better_ ?"  
she exclaims, viciously. "Saotome, you owe us a lot more than this.  
Maybe Akane was right, maybe all you are is a perverted jerk."  
  
Slowly, Ranma raises his head. He finds he can't quite look Nabiki in  
the eye, even though he tries. After several tries he quietly  
stutters out "I tried Nabiki, I tried so hard. I killed someone. I  
killed a _god_ Nabiki, and even then, I couldn't save her ! Let me  
atone, at least let me die, too."  
  
"So are you giving up ? Are you going to let Akane's death be  
meaningless ? Are you going to let another person die because you  
can't save them ? I thought a Saotome never looses twice" Nabiki  
counters.  
  
Nabiki pauses, and takes a breath. "But if that's how you feel, then  
maybe you did fail, Saotome."  
  
Ranma for the first time looks sharply at Nabiki, exhibiting the first  
life since she had seen from him that day.  
  
"From your description, she maybe could have been revived, if she were  
in a hospital, or if there was a doctor there. I challenge you Ranma.  
I challenge you to learn how to save people like Akane, and to do so.  
You can't bring Akane back, but you can keep it from ever happening  
to someone else. Or is the great Ranma Saotome to much of a coward ?"  
  
Silence reigned over the table for several minutes, while Ranma sought  
an answer to Nabiki's accusation, and Soun and Kasumi sit shocked by  
Nabiki's behavior. Eventually, Kasumi moves. She reaches across the  
table and places her hand over the tanto.  
  
"Nabiki's right Ranma. Do this for us. Do this for Akane. This  
situation came about in part due to your immaturity. You owe us a  
debt, now. This would be a fitting way to honor her memory. Don't  
let more people needlessly die."  
  
All eyes to to Soun, who slowly nods. Kasumi closes her hand and  
takes the tanto. It will serve as a pledge of this promise.  
  
Nabiki relaxes her posture with her victory, and sighs, saying, "Get  
ready, Saotome. We're going to be very busy the next few years. For  
tonight, though, just rest, okay ? "  
  
Ranma, too, finally nods in acceptance and defeat. "Alright, I  
promise."   
  
*** Authors notes  
  
I was inspired somewhat in this story by the portrayal of Nabiki and  
Ranma in the story "Nabiki's Honor" by Cloud Dreamer. I like Nabiki  
and Ranma matchups, but in general I don't see enough if cannon Ranma  
to justify it without changes to at least Nabiki's character. Would  
Akane's death be enough to shoke Nabiki into change ? That's my  
premis for this story, at least.  
  
The plot came to me in a dream last night, and wouldn't let me sleep  
until I at least recorded some notes about it. Please let me know if  
you think it's worth developing, and please forgive the no doubt  
numerous misspellings and grammatical errors.  
  
I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on TV. 


	2. A New Direction

Chapter 2 - A New Direction  
  
"Okay Ranma", Nabiki has her best business face on, as she sits cross  
legged on her bed, tapping a pencil against her teeth and looking at a  
notebook. A still lifeless looking Ranma sits on the edge of her desk  
chair. "Here's the program. To start with, since you haven't been  
able to do this for yourself, I'm going to have to straighten your  
life out. We have to deal with all the other finances and enemies.  
You won't be able to get much studying done if your life remains that  
hectic."  
  
"Somehow, I have to get your sorry perverted behind into a medical  
school, despite your lack of scholastic achievement to date. I think  
this will be the first thing we'll do. We'll try Nihon University,  
Osaka University, Nippon Medical School, and Omiya."  
  
"Um, Nabiki, how do you plan to do this ? I mean, I still have a year  
of high school left, and my grades aren't exactly the greatest."  
  
Nabiki turns her most predatory smile on Ranma. "Oh, that's easy.  
Most academic doctors would fall all over themselves for the  
opportunity to study your curse, yes ? Especially if we let them know  
that their competition in the other colleges is jumping at the chance  
to publish a case study on you. Letting a questionable student into  
their program is a small price to pay, and as to the questionable part  
... umph" she breaks off with a grunt as she reaches for something  
heavy on the other side of the bed.  
  
"Ack !" Ranma sputters in indignation. "Study me ! Nabiki, you  
know I don't wanna be poked and prodded by a buncha doctors ! Akane  
already ... thought I was ... a freak" he trails off.  
  
"Backing out on your promise already, Ranma ? Remember, you gave your  
word of honor. And here's how we deal with the questionable student  
part."   
  
A pile of textbooks promptly buries a protesting Ranma, driving his  
face into the floor. "Don't worry, I'll be helping you every day with  
these. Besides, this way you'll be too busy to worry about being  
depressed."  
  
Much quieter, she mutters to herself "and so will I."  
  
"Ite" is Ranma's only response, from somewhere underneath the pile.  
  
***  
  
"Tendo-san, please understand that we are very skeptical of your  
claims, the videotape you sent non-withstanding. While our  
technicians could not find any obvious evidence of tampering in it,  
what it shows seems so fantastic as to be unbelievable. The only  
reason we agreed to talk to you was because we could not disprove it  
outright. "  
  
"I understand Supinreru sensei. That's why we agreed to demonstrate  
to you here. You have your own recording equipment set up, right ?  
Where do you want Saotome-san to stand ?" Nabiki responds.  
  
"If you would plase step onto this scale, and in front of the camera,  
young man. Okay, now you said this, transformation, is activated with  
cold water ?"  
  
Ranma gives an embarrassed nod from his position in front of the  
camera, clad only in a hospital robe. "Yah, just dump one of those  
cups on me."  
  
The expected transformation takes place, shocking the room full of  
suit and labcoat clad researchers into immobility. Several cups of  
coffee are dropped, causing one screech of surprise from the back when  
a hot liquid lands in a sensitive spot. Ranma merely grimaces and  
tightens her robe.  
  
"I didn't believe it" mutters the first doctor. "Is this,  
transformation, um, complete ?"  
  
"Too complete if you ask me" grumbles Ranma. "And hands off."  
  
"Ranma ..." Nabiki casts her a warning glance before turning back to  
the assembled doctors. "It's complete as far as we have ever been  
able to tell" Nabiki affirms. "Now then, you recall our terms. You  
may only retain these records, and perform further studies, if you  
accept both of us as students in this institute."  
  
"But, well, you have been an exemplary student, Tendo-san, I suppose  
that we would have no problem admitting you to our nursing program"  
says the school administrator, still in some shock. "But I don't know  
if we can let someone who has not even graduated from high school into  
our program, much less someone who has demonstrated little motive to  
succeed in academic pursuits."  
  
"First, please let me point out that until now, due to his unique  
lifestyle, Saotome-san has had little opportunity to pursue  
academics." Nabiki pauses to take a breath.   
  
"In my opinion, it speaks very well of him to be able to pass his  
grade level at all, given that she had almost no regular schooling  
until the age of 16. As for motivation, I should let Saotome-san  
speak for herself. Ranma, if you please ?"  
  
"Look, I ain't real good at speeches or nothin, so I'm gonna sound  
stupider than I am" Ranma starts out. Nabiki just sighs, shakes her  
head, and covers her eyes. "But medical school has just become real  
important to me."  
  
"You gotta understand somethin. You see, I'm a martial artist. One  
of the best in the world, probably, and honor's important to me. When  
I make a promise, I keep it, no matter what. You see, just recently,  
I ... lost ... my finance, because just being one of the best martial  
artists wasn't good enough. If I had been a doctor, too, I coulda  
maybe saved her, revived her or somethin. Now, I owe her and her  
family a debt of honor. I need to be able to save lives, not just  
hurt 'em. And whatever it takes, that's what I'm gonna do, even if it  
means being a guinea pig like this."  
  
Silence reigns for a few moments across the room. The doctors present  
are obviously impressed with the sincerity and emotion in Ranma's  
statement. A few of the more senior exchange looks. Finally, the  
dean of the school leans forward and speaks.  
  
"I think that, in this instance, with the opportunity to study your so  
called 'curse' in action, and if your grades are acceptable that we  
can overlook any irregularities." He pauses a moment, and then  
continues. "Saotome-san, you may not know this, but about why you  
want to do this, well, that's the reason why all the best doctors  
enter our field. To save lives. With that motivation, that strongly,  
you'll do well."  
  
Nabiki and Ranma exchange satisfied glances. "That's great. Uh,  
listen, can I change back now ? In front of the camera, of course."   
  
A quick gale of laughter and smiles sweeps the room at the release of  
tension.   
  
*** Authors notes  
  
Thanks to those of you who commented. Seeing that I had some, um,  
mixed reactions to including the full story outline, I've removed it.  
  
Included instead is a revised first chapter with a few more scenes,  
and I've developed the next scenes here in chapter two. 


	3. Cleaning Up the Old

Chapter 3 - Cleaning Up the Old  
  
"What do you want, mercenary one. Such as you are hardly fit company  
for the noble house of Kuno during this dark day." No need to say  
who's talking here. It may be helpful to know this exchange is  
occurring at the front door to the Kuno mansion, though.  
  
"Well then, Kuno baby, I guess you really don't want to know what  
happened, then" Nabiki chirped in reply, with a dejected looking  
onna Ranma close in tow.  
  
"How, I have heard of the death of the fair Akane, caught between the  
foul sorcerer Ranma and his enemies. Hast thou come to taunt me,  
then, with the hold he still obviously has on my other love ? Yet,  
why else would she be in grief as I so clearly see ?"  
  
"Listen, Kuno baby, Ranma wants to release the pig tailed girl, but he  
doesn't know how. He needs your help to figure it out."  
  
"Well then, perhaps I should deign to speak with thee, if thou can  
perhaps show the true path to this, mine other love."   
  
Sometime later, a pair of figures is seen approaching the Nekohauten.  
"Come _on_ Ranma. We haven't got all day. You still have two  
chapters of cellular biology and three of anatomy to do tonight. Not  
to mention your katas. Can't let you slip behind on your Art."  
  
"Bleagh. I still want to wash my mouth out. I can't believe you got  
Kuno to pay for our school, and leave us alone while we're in it.  
Didja have to practically prostitute me to do it, though ? I really  
hate acting as if I actually like the jerk."  
  
Despite Ranma's protests, Nabiki is quite pleased with herself. In  
part due to yet another success manipulating the local delusional  
idiot, but mostly because Ranma is being kept busy enough that she  
acted almost normal once or twice today.  
  
"Now, you know that we didn't really make any promises to Kuno, real  
or implied. Whatever he thinks is going to happen is entirely his  
delusions. Getting Kodachi to go along with 'freeing her Ranma-sama'  
was a stroke of genius too, if I do say so myself."  
  
Just before they get to the door, she turns to Ranma and says "Now  
remember, whatever happens, refuse any offers to change back unless I  
say otherwise. We have to convince Cologne that you're willing to  
stay like this instead of marrying Shampoo."  
  
"Yah, whatever. If that's what it takes, I'd do it for real. Not  
like it matters now anyway" Ranma replied listlessly as they entered  
the establishment, causing the bell on the door to ring and announce  
their presence.  
  
"Good evening, son-in-law, Nabiki. Please accept my condolences on  
the death of your sister and finance. She was a spirited rival, as  
worthy in some ways as a true amazon. Meanwhile, to what do I owe the  
honor of this visit ?" Cologne's sharp eye immediately picked out the  
massive dark aura hovering just out of sight around Ranma, along with  
the visible signs of physical weariness. To her surprise, Nabiki also  
exhibited an equally dark aura, although not quite as powerful. 'It  
seems that this girl has great potential as well, under the right  
circumstance' she mused in her thoughts.  
  
"Good evening, honored elder, and thank you", Nabiki replied  
courteously. "I fear we have business to discuss regarding my  
ex-future brother in law and your great-great-granddaughter."  
  
Cologne sighed as she guided them to a seat. "I feared as much. Are  
you certain that you wish to speak of this so quickly after the recent  
events ? You are both obviously still recovering."  
  
Nabiki glances at the old crone in surprise, she had thought her mask  
better than that. This elicits a small chuckle from the aforesaid old  
crone, by now balancing on her staff next to where the two of them are  
seated. "Yes, both, child. I am not blind, and I have much  
experience dealing with death over my lifetime. Now, since you did  
not take my offer to delay this discussion until a later time, what  
have you to say ?"  
  
Nabiki looks a little less assured than before, but still she cocks an  
eyebrow at Ranma, indicating that he is to proceed.  
  
"I ain't marrying anyone, old g-agh", Ranma grunts as Nabiki none to  
subtly grinds her foot into Ranma's. Cologne smirks. "I mean,  
Cologne. I was in, lo, lu, love with, Akane. I don't love anyone  
else, especially Shampoo." Onna Ranma looks nearly ready to cry  
again, and has to stop and breathe for a moment. Nabiki quietly  
covers Ranma's hand with her own, which does not go unnoticed by  
Cologne. Finally, she draws in another breath and proceeds. "If  
necessary, I'll get Herb to lock me in girl form insteada marrying  
anyone else."  
  
In the background, a gasp is heard, and a kettle clatters to the  
ground. Behind the seated trio Shampoo holds her hands to her mouth  
in dismay. She had been so certain that it was now only a matter of  
time until Ranma came to her, especially since Akane was no longer  
around to get between them. "No, husband cannot mean that ! Sneaky  
girl must have convinced Airen to say that !"  
  
Ranma and Nabiki both turn around and shake their heads in negation.  
"Nah, it ain't like that. Sure, she's making me do this now, insteada  
letting things go on, but what I said is true. I don't love nobody  
else, and I don't wanna be a guy if that's what it takes to convince  
you. Shampoo, you're a friend, and I ain't got many of those, but I  
won't marry you."  
  
Cologne, too is shocked. She had overheard the snippet of  
conversation outside the door. Seeing Ranma's emotional state, she  
believes he would do something rash at the moment.  
  
Drawing and expelling a slow breath. She considers her options.  
"That seems a rash reaction. Perhaps you would feel differently if  
you were to wait a time. Are you truly so resolved, son-in-law ?"  
she inquires.  
  
Ranma shrugs. "Well, I couldn't do it right away anyway. I figure I  
owe the Tendos a debt, now. Nabiki has me convinced that I can pay it  
in part by becoming a doctor as well as a martial artist, and saving  
lives, not just fighting. I'd have to wait a while to get locked  
'cause I promised the medical school an opportunity to study my curse  
as part of getting in. That makes it a matter of honor. So I figure  
I'd have to wait a year to two to hunt up Herb and insult him or  
something. Of course, I'd rather not, I'm still a guy, but there  
don't seem much point in being a guy anymore."  
  
Cologne is even more shocked. She had never though Ranma capable of  
planning ahead that long, much less planning that large a sacrifice  
that far in the future. This was also the most verbose she had ever  
heard him. Another glance at Nabiki reveals a large part of the  
cause. Yet, while the ideas may be Nabiki's, the steel and  
determination are Ranma's. She had seen as far back as the full body  
cats tongue episode that once Ranma had his mind set on something,  
that would move heaven and earth to carry it out. If he truly was  
this determined, then he was lost to the tribe.  
  
Raising her head, she makes a decision. "Very well, Ranma. If you  
are truly determined on this course of action, I have little other  
choice than to cancel the kiss of marriage. I have the option to  
reinstate the kiss of death, but that would mean nothing at all for  
the tribe, just more pointless death, quite possibly our own. I am  
sorry Shampoo."  
  
At this pronouncement, Shampoo collapses to her knees. Sobbing  
softly, she gets up and runs to her room. Ranma looks guiltily after  
her, but is restrained by Nabiki's hand, which is still covering his.   
  
"I also admire your determination to become a doctor. Perhaps you  
might accept a counter offer ?"  
  
At Nabiki's nod, Cologne continues. "If you would consent to  
periodically visit our village and provide medical care on your  
graduation, I will make you honorary members of our tribe, and formally  
train the two of you in Amazonian Wu-Shu and traditional medicine. We  
are quite remote, and receive little in the way of modern medicine.  
Further, it is a pleasure training a prodigy such as yourself Ranma,  
and I can see that you have more potential than you let on Nabiki."  
  
Nabiki and Ranma's eyes meet each others briefly. "That's the best  
offer we're likely to get Ranma" Nabiki says, softly. "Much better  
than I expected."  
  
Ranma nods and turns back to the shriveled human-on-a-stick beside  
them. "We accept."  
  
***  
  
Late that night, back at the dojo, Nabiki finally gives up trying to  
sleep. It's no use. Every time she closes her eyes, she sees scenes  
of Akane, and remembers how she would manipulate events for her  
amusement to keep the her and Ranma unhappy and apart.   
  
Growing more and more depressed, she gets up, turns on her lamp, and  
starts reviewing her project to keep Ranma alive. She needs something  
positive to keep her mind occupied. As she forcibly injects more  
positive lines of thought into her mind, she notices that it isn't  
just her emotions she's feeling. There seems to be a thick, soup like  
miasma of angst in the air, whispering to her the futility of going  
on.  
  
Just as she throws open the window to try to get some air, the back  
yard suddenly erupts in a blinding flare of light. A simultaneous raw  
throated scream of "PERFECT SHI-SHI-HOKODAN" assaults her ears,  
shortly followed by an enormous splash and loud, earth shaking  
explosion.   
  
'Ryoga's depression ki attack, but not his voice', runs through her  
shocked mind as she stumbles back from the window, flash blinded and  
with her ears ringing. "Ranma !" she realizes. Running into walls  
and doors, and nearly tripping on the stairs, she makes her way  
outside as fast as she can, blinking away the spots in her eyes and  
stumbling through the muddy mist in the yard. As she tosses scattered  
koi back into the gathering muddy water of their new crater, she  
absently notes that even with the mist, the air feels much less heavy.  
Ranma must have released some of the depression he was feeling.  
  
Eventually she literally stumbles over a soaked, prone, female Ranma  
in the back yard, on the ground near the remains of the koi pond, as  
if she had just slid off one of the now pulverized large rocks.  
  
Kneeling, she awkwardly gathers the sobbing Ranma into her arms,  
feeling uncertain what to do. Kasumi appears beside her with a towel  
in her hands which she uses to wrap up the sobbing Ranma, and between  
them they manage to get her inside. A little more work between them  
has Ranma bathed in cold water to clean off the mud, dried, and  
changed. Ranma is still clinging to Nabiki like a shipwreck victim  
clings to a float, much to her embarrassment.  
  
Eventually, Nabiki and Ranma end up curled up together on the couch.  
Kasumi covers them with a blanket and goes back to bed.   
  
The two of them are still asleep there in the morning, hardly having  
moved. 


	4. Of Family and Friends

Chapter 4 - Friends and Family  
  
In the apartment above a small Okonomiyaki-ya, a young woman is  
startled awake by an unexpected flash of light. As she blinks her  
eyes in sleep and confusion, she suddenly feels and hears a bone deep  
crash and rumble. The windows rattle and dust shakes itself loose  
from the ceiling. Several small items fall off her dresser.  
  
Somehow, she feels what must have happened. "Oh dear God, Ranchan"  
she says with a sudden catch of worry in her throat.  
  
"Mistress Ukyo, are you alright ?" calls a gentle, feminine sounding  
voice from outside her door.   
  
"It's Ranma, something's happened to Ranma, Konatsu." Ukyo stands and  
opens her door, revealing an attractive young woman, um, man in a  
nightdress.  
  
With a nod, Konatsu exclaims "I shall endeavor to discover master  
Ranma's condition." With that, she, um, he disappears into the  
shadows of the hall.  
  
Ukyo merely sits down at the edge of the futon, clutches her arms to  
herself, and shivers.  
  
***   
  
Across town, an attractive middle aged woman stands near her bedroom  
window, looking toward Nermia, some unknown feeling having pulled her  
from her sleep. Upon seeing the sickly yellowish green pillar flare  
and fall against the night sky, visible even above the light of the  
streetlights, and hearing the following low rumble faintly audible  
even at this distance, she nods to herself.  
  
Turning, Nodaka Saotome prods a sleeping panda into wakefulness.  
"Husband, it is time we saw our son."  
  
***  
  
Far out of the town of Nermia, in a small forest, A powerful young man  
in worn yellow and black traveling clothes and with a yellow bandanna  
in his hair sits idly by a small fire, watching the sky. As his  
eyes trace down to the horizon in the distance, he sees a sickly  
yellowish green pillar of light climb above the horizon, and fall  
again. Several minutes later, he feels the subsonic echos of a large  
blast under the soles of his feet.  
  
"Ranma," he growls, as his eyes harden in anger, "only you could do  
that, damn you." Without taking his eyes from the now dark spot of  
the horizon, he stands, kicks out his fire and puts on his pack.   
  
Ryoga begins to walk.  
  
***   
  
Morning eventually dawns everywhere, even over a depressed currently  
female world class martial artist. Ranma slowly wakes to the sunlight  
streaming through the still open porch door into her face where she  
lies on the living room couch, and finds herself unaccountably at  
peace. The death grip she seems to be maintaining on something warm  
and comfortable might have something to do with it, she decides,  
muzzily, at least until that something unexpectedly shifts and mutters  
underneath her. Ranma slowly prys opens her eyes and finds her face  
inches away from a restlessly sleeping Nabiki's.  
  
"Tired. Wan'na go back sleep" Nabiki mutters.  
  
"ACK !" Over a year of programmed survival reflexes kicked in,  
propelling Ranma in a record breaking leap. At least, it would have  
been record breaking, if there was an Olympic event for "Lying down on  
someone with your arms entangled Broad Jump, thus unceremoniously  
dumping you both on the floor now tangled in the blanket."  
  
Well, the survival reflexes hadn't worked very well earlier in the  
year, either.  
  
"Oh, good morning Ranma, Nabiki. I see you're awake." Kasumi smiles  
at the unfolding scene from the doorway to the kitchen.   
  
"Ite ! And get your perverted hands _OFF_ !" shouts Nabiki,  
attempting to push her way clear of the entangling blanket and  
deceptively massive onna Ranma.  
  
"GomenisaiGomenisaiGomenisaiGomenisai, this ain't what it looks like  
!" stumbles Ranma as fast as she can, until she catches a glimpse of  
an ex-back yard out the currently open screen door to the porch. She  
stills her own struggles in shock, eventually allowing Nabiki to worm  
free and stumble back onto the couch, clearing Ranma's view.  
  
"Kuso", she states in trepidation upon being granted a clear view of  
the new crater, accented by a couple of scorched fish. "What  
happened ?"  
  
"You did Ranma." Nabiki comments dryly, trying to stretch out the  
kinks. "Don't you remember ? And then you fell asleep on me, and  
wouldn't let go. Ugh. I think my arm is still asleep."  
  
"Aw, man, I'm sorry." Ranma quiets and accepts a kettle from Kasumi,  
regarding it sadly before dumping the contents over her, now his head.  
"If I'm going to cause this much trouble, maybe I should just leave"  
he mutters as he casts his gaze down.  
  
"Saotome, I thought we had this conversation yesterday. You're not  
going anywhere until one of us releases you from your promise. Got  
that ?" Nabiki groused and stands. "I'm going to take a bath. We've  
got a lot of studying to do today, and we still have several more  
people to deal with."  
  
"Also, I could use some help cleaning up the yard, later, if it's not  
too much trouble" asks Kasumi with a little sadness, but also with a  
genuine smile.  
  
Ranma looks back and forth between the sisters. "Alright already. I  
know when I'm beat. I suppose I'd better get started on the back yard  
before breakfast." He stands and makes his way outside to find a  
shovel and rake.   
  
"Don't forget Ranma, you agreed to start training me before  
breakfast" calls Nabiki. "I'll be out as soon as I've bathed and  
changed."  
  
Kasumi turns toward her younger sister. "Nabiki, are you alright ?  
You've been working yourself very hard these last several days."   
  
Nabiki is caught by surprise by Kasumi's sudden insight. "First  
Cologne, now you. Jeez, why does it seem I can't hide anything from  
anyone anymore."  
  
"Perhaps because you're as hurt inside as any of the rest of us,  
little sister. Just remember to take time for yourself, too, okay ?"   
  
Nabiki shakes her head in negation and turns to make her way up the  
stairs. "I can't Kasumi, not until I know for certain that the baka  
out in the yard will be okay. You saw how he was last night. If it  
had been anyone else, that blast would likely have killed him. I can't  
let that happen. I owe it to Akane, and to Ranma."  
  
"Oh little sister, be careful" Kasumi whispers. "I can't loose you,  
too." Sadly, she goes to wake her father for the morning.  
  
***  
  
Ukyo quickly makes her way down the street toward the Tendo Dojo,  
wearing her traditional outfit and carrying a take out box. She had  
received Konatsu's report of a destroyed yard, and a crying Ranma  
being cared for by two of the three Tendo sisters, but no Akane. She  
didn't know what to think, so she decided to pay an early morning  
visit, certain a couple of Ranma's favorite Okonomiyaki would help him  
through whatever was happening.  
  
Nervously, she pauses at the outer door, straightens her hair, and takes  
a deep breath before knocking on the door.  
  
Shortly, the door swings open to revealing to Ukyo a decidedly unusual  
sight, Kasumi not looking happy. In fact, unless she was badly  
mistaken, not only was Kasumi not happy, she appeared definitely sad.  
  
"Kasumi ? Is everything alright ? What happened to Ranma ? Where is  
Akane ?"  
  
"Good morning Ukyo. Please forgive me, but this is not the best  
time. I'm afraid that Akane is no longer with us, and Ranma is taking  
this rather hard."  
  
"Oh my god. I'm sorry Kasumi." This was worse than Ukyo had thought.  
Still, unbidden, and guiltily, a hope for herself surfaced inside.  
"May I see Ranma, please ?"  
  
"Of course. I believe Ranma and Nabiki are out cleaning and training  
in the back yard. Just go around to the back."  
  
"Nabiki, training ?" Ukyo mutters as she walks. As she rounds the  
corner of the house, she is treated to the same war zone like view  
that Ranma woke to, minus, by now, some of the cooked fish. She also  
sees the unusual sight of a sweating, dirty, gi clad Nabiki, wielding  
a hoe to defend herself from flying clods of dirt. She swings the hoe  
at each incoming dirt clod, either breaking it up or hitting it back  
across the yard. In between swings, she uses the hoe to smooth a  
mound of dirt and broken rock.  
  
Already have been exposed to a morning full of shocks, only magnified  
by the the sight of a Nabiki apparently performing manual labor and  
martial arts training, she misses following the flight path of one of  
the dirt clods, until one deflected from Nabiki's hoe flies toward  
her. Reflexively, she drops her take out box, seizes the baker's peel  
from her back, and uses it to swat the clod back in the direction it  
came.  
  
The dirt clod from an unexpected angle hits Nabiki in the side,  
breaking up into smaller chunks and dust. Nabiki squawks, windmills  
her arms for a bit, and looses the battle to stay upright, landing on  
her rump with a squeal of indignation.  
  
From across the yard, Ranma suddenly comes to Ukyo's notice with the  
exclamation "That was great Ukyo. We needed an unpredictable  
element."   
  
Ukyo turns her eyes toward her erstwhile finance and gasps as she  
takes him in. Even from across the yard, she can tell that Ranma has  
obviously seen far better days. She's not certain if the yard or  
Ranma looks worse.  
  
"Ranchan ? What's going on here ? Are you alright ?"  
  
"Damn, I should have waited until after training to bathe, now  
I'll have to do it again" snarled Nabiki, leveraging herself up. "You  
might as well come in, Ukyo, we can explain inside."   
  
***   
  
"Ranchan, what you said to Shampoo, that doesn't apply to me, too,  
does it ?" Ukyo desperately hopes what she heard is false, but can  
barely bring herself to face the pain evident in Ranma's expression in  
order to confirm or deny it.  
  
"Ucchan, I'm sorry. I just can't marry anybody else, okay ? And I  
meant it about locking myself female if I gotta. Look, this isn't  
much, but I'll talk to my Mom about your honor. Maybe we can do  
somethin."  
  
"I, I see." Ukyo desperately attempts to layer a happy attitude over  
her feelings. "Well, I did bring you all some Okonomiyaki for  
breakfast, but I've got to get back to the restaurant to open up for  
the breakfast rush, okay ? I'm, I'm sorry about Akane, okay ? I've  
really gotta go though. Talk to you later, Ranchan." Cutting off her  
babbling and turning her head as she fails to hold back tears, Ukyo  
doesn't quite rush out of the house.  
  
Ranma looks even more hurt, if possible, and Nabiki puts her hand on  
Ranma's arm, again without thinking about it. Ranma turns slowly  
to her and just quietly shakes his head. Now, he's lost his fiancee,  
alienated Shampoo, and may be loosing his best friend. Too drained to  
feel anything else, he gets up. "I'm not hungry right now. I'll be  
up in my room studying if you need me."  
  
Nabiki watches him slowly climb the stairs.  
  
***  
  
Author's notes  
  
I intended to also deal with Soun and Ranma's parents and with Ryoga  
in this chapter, in addition to Ukyo. It started to get a bit long,  
however, so those situations will have to be put off until the next. 


	5. A Meeting of Minds

Chapter 5 - A Meeting of Minds  
  
The sun has just recently passed it's zenith, fading into a long  
summer's afternoon. The bright light illuminated a young man  
balancing a large pile of papers in a box on his head. The shade from  
the box, with the sun directly above, kept his head in shadow, but the  
end of a black pigtail could be seen sticking out from beneath it.  
  
Perhaps unusually, Ranma isn't walking on the fence, even though the  
fence is his normal route to Furikan high school. It is even more  
unusual, however, that he should be following this route during what  
is, for other students, the month long summer break.  
  
Nevertheless it is happening; Ranma is proceeding to Furikan, on summer  
break, and the papers on his head are a pile of completed schoolwork.  
Nabiki has been spending a lot of time with him recently, tutoring,  
and this schoolwork is the result. The school had agreed to accept  
Ranma's work in advance, in order that he could get his degree on an  
accelerated basis from work done at home. The stack currently on his  
head accounted for a good third of his senior class work. Ranma  
doesn't want to know how Nabiki had arranged this dispensation.  
  
After a brief visit with everyone's favorite chibi-disciplinarian to  
drop off the aforesaid work, Ranma departs the school for home, much  
lighter than when he entered.  
  
Down the street, in the shade provided at the intersection between two  
buildings, another young man waits leaning against the wall. A large  
traveling pack with a bamboo umbrella strapped to the top is on the  
figures back. As Ranma nears, the figure pushes itself off the wall  
with a low growl, and reaches for the umbrella atop his pack, his eyes  
begin glowing in an unholy reddish fury.  
  
"Ranma, YOU WILL PAY !" With a howl of near inexpressible anger, the  
young man throws the umbrella like a spear, sending it whistling at  
incredible velocity toward Ranma's head.  
  
Barely looking, Ranma gently sways aside from the unprovoked attack,  
and the umbrella buries itself to half it's length in the thick brick  
wall behind him. Ironically, it was the same wall recently repaired  
in the Martial Arts Bricklaying contest a few weeks earlier.  
  
"Ryoga," Ranma says in acknowledgment, and turns a listlessly toward  
his opponent, just in time to gently sway aside from Ryoga's flying  
kick. Ryoga lands near his umbrella, and takes a moment to rip it  
from the wall.  
  
"You, let, Akane, DIE !" howls Ryoga, as he attacks in near berserk  
fury. Ranma, however, barely appears to be fighting back. Each swing  
or jab of the umbrella, each punch or kick, is met with Ranma merely  
fading away or swaying aside from the technique.  
  
The entire situation seems unreal or detached Ranma thinks, as he  
absently deflects a razor sharp spinning bandanna. Somehow, it's  
not like he's being attacked at all. Rather, it's as if he is just  
making his way calmly through some bizarre, deadly obstacle course  
while wrapped in cotton, occasionally having to dodge or deflect some  
deadly attack like the spinning back kick, back knuckle, overhead  
umbrella strike combination just now. He barely can seem to bring  
himself to care about avoiding the attacks, much less attack in  
return. The only goal currently in his mind is to bring this problem,  
as his others, to the person pledged to resolve them, Nabiki.  
  
Ryoga, true to form, is growing more and more incensed as his opponent  
seems to glide like a whisper of a dream around each attack. Ryoga  
forebears to engage in further yells of threat or defiance,  
concentrating solely on avenging Akane on what, to him, is the cause  
of her death.  
  
If Ryoga had been paying attention, he might have noticed that Ranma  
is not at all behaving normally. Not only is Ranma  
uncharacteristically silent, devoid of the enraging taunts which he  
normally employs, but his parries and dodges, while still graceful,  
lack the normal fire and spirit of Ranma's fighting style. An outside  
observer would see that Ranma isn't fighting back at all.  
  
During the short course of the fight, an already deceptive distance  
had been covered. Despite the relative silence of this combat, the  
concussions of Ryoga's missed strikes serve to preannouce the presence  
of the moving battle. Pedestrians clear away from the combatants with  
the finely honed survival instinct necessary to live near the walking  
chaos known as Ranma's life, hurried along by the palpable aura of  
berserk rage emitting from Ryoga. Meanwhile, each wall leaped, each  
attack dodged, and each roof covered brings the battling pair closer  
to Ranma's eventual destination, the Dojo.  
  
Unnoticed by the combatants, two of the pedestrians are an attractive  
auburn haired middle aged woman carrying a long bundle wrapped in  
silk, and a gi clad portly man wearing wire rim glasses and with a  
handkerchief covering a bald head. The couple exchange a worried  
glance and hurry down the street in pursuit of the battle. Both  
Nodaka and Genma easily see the change in Ranma's fighting style, and  
worry about it's import, and how it will reflect on the resolution of  
this fight.  
  
The battling pair finally leap the wall of the Tendo compound, and are  
promptly met with a bucketful of cold water, flung by Nabiki. The  
Tendos had also heard the effects of the impending battle, and Soun  
and Kasumi were on the porch, curious to see why Nabiki had grabbed a  
fire bucket and rushed out when she heard the noise.  
  
Quickly, Nabiki drops the bucket and snatches up Ryoga-P as he  
struggles out of his clothes. Slapping him smartly across the muzzle,  
she growls "I've been waiting for you to show up. You Will _STOP_ !".  
  
Ryoga calms his piglet struggles, although his eyes remain an  
unhealthy shade of red, and turns his glare at the now female Ranma.  
  
After making certain that Ryoga is stopping his attack, at least for  
the moment, Nabiki turns to the now female Ranma. "Ranma, I know you  
don't like this, but it's like we've talked about earlier. It's time  
to apologize to Ryoga."  
  
Meanwhile, Genma and Nodaka have arrived on the porch behind Soun and  
Kasumi. Nodaka is struck by the seeming emptiness in her sometime  
son's and currently daughter's gray eyes, as well as the obvious  
reference of Ryoga to the pig held by Nabiki. Putting out her hand,  
she restrains Genma from advancing, cutting off his impending speech.  
  
Ranma nods, reluctantly. "Ryoga, Nabiki's right, I don't like it, but  
I do owe ya an apology." Slowly, she kneels, bows formally, and  
gathers herself. Nabiki had worked on this speech with her for some  
while to get it right. Speaking formally, she begins, "I apologize  
for the lack of respect I have shown to you in the past. I apologize  
for the insults I have done to you, especially those belittling your  
Jusenko curse."  
  
Ranma pauses for a moment to gather herself, and breaks from the  
formal speech. "And I apologize for not giving ya a fair chance with  
Akane." She takes a breath. "You're right, ya know, if you had  
gotten Akane, she'd maybe be alive now, and even though I'd hate it,  
it'd be better than ..." Finally, she breaks off, unable to continue,  
and turns her head away in shame and grief.  
  
As Ryoga finally takes time to get a good look at Ranma, it finally  
filters in how much pain Ranma really is in. He should know, he's  
seen that same look often enough in a mirror. He also begins to take  
in the still only half repaired devastation in the yard around him,  
and realizes the strength of the depression Ki blast Ranma must have  
produced to cause it. Perhaps in truth, Ranma's depression might be  
far worse than his own.  
  
Then, Ranma's apology registers, and his rage slowly drains away. He  
is still unhappy with Ranma, but despite his efforts, he seems unable  
to hold onto the hate he had nurtured.  
  
Nabiki holds Ryoga to her face and hisses at him. "Now, damn your  
dishonorable cheating hide, you are going to accept Ranma's apology,  
and you are going to apologize for sleeping with Akane without her  
knowledge, using your pig form to come between them, and for carrying  
your gods damned useless fucking grudge. Akane's death is NOT RANMA's  
FAULT you damn pig. And I swear by all that is holy that if you don't,  
I will have you at the local pound and neutered within the hour. _Do_  
_you_ _understand_ ?"  
  
Nodaka, who had been slowly growing more concerned over the situation,  
twitches upon hearing some of the things Nabiki said. Glancing over  
at Soun and her husband, she begins to see that the Ranma's situation  
may be far worse than she had been lead to believe.  
  
Ryoga gives a little, reluctant piggy grunt in acknowledgment to  
Nabiki. On hearing this, she breaks eye contact and reaches for the  
kettle which Kasumi has produced, dumping the contents over Ryoga.  
Ryoga quickly scrambles for his clothes without making eye contact  
with anyone there.  
  
"Well, we're waiting." This from an impatiently posturing Nabiki.  
  
Ryoga hems and haws for bit, before finally not quite looking at  
Ranma. "All right, it's not like I forgive you, yet, but I'll stop  
the feud. It's not like killing a walking dead man would be any  
satisfaction."  
  
"And ?" Nabiki prods.  
  
"And I'm sorry for those things she said, okay ?" Ryoga throws her a  
frustrated glance.  
  
Nabiki nods. It's about the best she expected from Ryoga. Ranma  
finally looks up, and meets Ryoga's gaze. Softly, she asks Ryoga "You  
need some help getting somewhere ? We could call a cab or something  
to Akari's place. And if you want, we can still fight whenever you  
show up."  
  
Ryoga is surprised yet again. Ranma is being nice ? Perhaps he had  
misjudged him a little. Slowly he nods in acceptance of the offer.  
He'd still keep an eye on Ranma, in case he ruined any of the other  
Tendos, but for now he'd leave things be.  
  
"If you'd please come with me, Hibiki-san, we can see about that cab"  
says Kasumi, as she steps off the porch to hand another kettle to  
Ranma. "Perhaps you'd like a snack while you wait ?" Shortly, she  
and Ryoga disappear into the house.  
  
Genma, finally with a clear approach to the again male Ranma, begins  
to puff himself up. "Worthless boy ! Perhaps you should stay in that  
weak girl's body. It fits your actions today, backing down from a  
fight and apologizing to an enemy !"  
  
On the other side of the porch, for the first time in days, Soun  
begins to show a bit of life. "Genma, my friend, wait. Perhaps the  
union between our families can be saved. It seems Nabiki and your son  
are perfectly matched, does it not ? The way she helped him resolve  
the other finances you arranged speaks for it."  
  
"That is enough, Husband, Tendo-san" Nodaka's voice whipcracks across  
the yard. Both men cringe at her outburst.  
  
"Ranma's actions today have been nothing but honorable and manly. Yet  
in response, you give him nothing but condemnation and pressure to  
marry immediately after loosing his finance. Your actions on the  
other hand ..."  
  
"Tendo-san, did you truly allow that young man to sleep in Akane's  
bed in his pig form ? Have you no honor ? Genma did you truly  
arrange other finances for our son, knowing you had made a promise of  
honor for him to marry a Tendo ?"  
  
"Um, well, you see, a martial artists road is hard, and any advantage  
must be seized. When the only way to feed us was to claim a dowry by  
promising my son in marriage, it must be done. Further, it was a  
burden to toughen the boy." Genma finally breaks off his  
justifications, seeing that he is only further enraging Nodaka.  
  
"Auntie, there is something else you should perhaps know." Nabiki  
addresses herself to Nodaka. "When Ranma arrived here from China  
after my sister's death, he offered to suicide in atonement for not  
saving her."  
  
This revelation brought the expected gasp from Nodaka. Still she  
straighted in pride that her son would consider his honor so  
strongly.  
  
"I didn't think that it was an acceptable solution. So I suggested  
that Ranma pay his debt to us by becoming something which could have  
saved Akane, a doctor. Ranma accepted, and gave his word of honor to  
do so."  
  
Nodaka looks thoughtfully at Nabiki, and perceives that there is more  
to the story than Nabiki is saying. "I see. But why your further  
involvement in my son's affairs, if that is all there is ? And why a  
doctor ? It is an honorable career, but not what I expected. Did you  
too feel you have some debt to pay here ?"  
  
Nabiki flushes and looks down. "Yes, I too bear some of the blame for  
the failure of Ranma and little sister's relationship. Had I not  
acted as I did, they may easily have married and taken a different  
course of action, one that would not have led to my sister's passing.  
They certainly would have been much happier then they were."  
  
She looks up and meets Nodaka's eyes again. "I won't let him die,  
Auntie. I owe Akane far too much for that. As to why a doctor, well  
... ", she glances at Ranma quickly, "you see him, he needs to do  
something positive, to know he _can_ save lives, through one means if  
not another."  
  
Nodaka continues to regard Nabiki for a short while. Finally, she  
comes to an impulsive decision. She would do what she could to  
support this impressive young woman and her son. She turns to her son  
and slowly approaches the nervous young man. Stopping several paces  
away, she pauses a moment to free the Saotome blade from it's  
wrapping. Kneeling, she formally bows and addresses him.  
  
"My son, this day you have made me proud. It is fitting that you  
should adopt a greater responsibility at this time. I ask that you  
accept this." Formally, she bows again and presents the Saotome honor  
blade to her son.  
  
Nabiki quickly shuffles over and pokes a stunned Ranma, nodding  
rapidly at him. Shaking off his stupor, Ranma slowly kneels and  
accepts the blade. "I, um, thank you Mother. I will bring honor to  
our clan."  
  
Nodaka meets his gaze and favors him with a brilliant, and totally out  
of place smile for such a ceremony. "I know you will clan-head. I'll  
have the paperwork processed in the morning." Getting up after Ranma,  
she continues, "Of course, this also means you have the responsibility  
to approve arrangements involving our clan."  
  
Genma sputters, realizing that Nodaka in effect has just dissolved the  
Tendo/Saotome marriage pact.  
  
Soun is devastated yet again, at least until Genma finally turns and  
whispers to him "Give it time. It's in his hands now, but the boy is  
already growing dependent on your daughter, we need only let nature  
take it's course."  
  
Nabiki breathes a sigh of relief. This is the last of the  
entanglements she is worried about. Perhaps now she can get down to  
the business of giving Ranma something to live for.  
  
***  
  
Authors notes -  
  
That's all the relationships and rivals, or at least all I'm going to  
bother to do. I also hope I've done a bit better job of explaining  
Nabiki's motivation in this chapter.  
  
Also, it was mentioned in a review that I may have mischaracterized  
Ukyo in the last chapter, which is probably true. I can only plead a  
little wiggle room: since Ranma never said he doesn't love her in  
cannon, I choose to interpret Ukyo receiving such a statement as  
eliciting that reaction. 


	6. Rebuilding

Chapter 6 - Rebuilding  
  
Nabiki rubbed her eyes and yawned. It was early in the morning,  
during the quiet part of the night, but she was having problems  
sleeping again. Oh well, it always helped her to review her latest,  
most important project. She got out of bed, turned on her lamp,  
opened her Ranma notebook and considered her progress.  
  
Overall, Ranma appeared to be doing somewhat better now, at least so  
long as she kept him busy. If given time to think, though, he tended  
to fall rapidly back into the uncaring lassitude he exhibited  
immediately after he returned. Nevertheless, he was slowing becoming  
reasonably responsive in more day to day situations. She could still  
see easily see the grief, though. For instance, Ranma frequently had  
nightmares, something he had done before only after cat-fist episodes.  
He had fallen asleep in her arms post nightmare several times more  
since the shi-shi-hokodan episode. She was almost becoming used to  
it. It was comforting, and not just to Ranma, although she'd never  
admit that.  
  
There had been no more massive shi-shi-hokodan's, thank God. Even  
with the wide lassitude she had with the scholarship and expense  
account she wrangled from the Kunos, they couldn't afford many of  
those.  
  
Cologne's instruction was turning out to be wonderful help with Ranma.  
The Martial Arts was still Ranma's first love, and he was most like  
his old self in the midst of trying to master a new technique. And  
between Ranma's and Cologne's instruction, she herself was progressing  
far more rapidly than she had ever believed possible. She could also  
see that several of the techniques Cologne was instructing Ranma in  
could prove to be invaluable in his new career, even though she was  
still far from being able to understand them herself. Still, it gave  
her something she could do with Ranma where he led her rather than the  
other way around. Further, teaching her was something that he was  
good at and enjoyed doing. That was important. He had to feel like  
he was in control of as much of his life as possible.  
  
Shampoo and Mousse had both left, forcing Cologne to hire new help.  
Nabiki wasn't certain if that was a positive or negative. On the plus  
side, the more people Ranma had to talk with, the better he seemed.  
On the minus, she didn't want to risk Shampoo's or Mousse's obsessions  
upsetting Ranma's still delicate emotional balance.  
  
Ukyo, that was rough. She still was not really comfortable around  
Ranma, and showed it despite her best efforts not to. Hurting his  
oldest friend took a definite toll on him. Nabiki made a notation to  
limit contact between the two until Ukyo was in a better condition,  
and another to talk again to Nodaka to brainstorm ideas to help Ukyo,  
both personally and to restore her honor.  
  
School studies were proceeding more than satisfactorily. Given  
sufficient motivation, Ranma showed a surprising academic ability, and  
it also made a wonderful tool for Nabiki to occupy time Ranma would  
otherwise spend brooding. At the rate they were going, he would be  
ready to take the medical school admissions exam with a near certainty  
of passing in just another month or so. He had already done  
sufficient work to parlay into a high school degree for him.  
Surprisingly, Hiniko-sensei had been of great help with the school  
administration once she understood Nabiki's goals. She made a note to  
thank Hiniko-sensei, and to ask her to force principal Kuno to release  
the final paperwork and process Ranma's degree. She made another note  
to talk to Supinreru-sensei at the medical school during their next  
visit about arranging their entrance exams.  
  
The medical school, that was a more than a bit of a sore point. Ranma  
viewed their visits their to have his curse studied as a minor visit  
to hell. Something just barely to be endured. What was worse, once  
the doctors and scientists there discovered his abilities as a martial  
artist, they had become almost equally interested in those as in his  
curse. People able to leap 30 feet into the air, shoot blasts of  
energy from their hands, be uninjured by blows which pulverized  
concrete, and summon whirlwinds from nothing did not fit into their  
world view. Nabiki suspected that if they took one more muscle biopsy  
he would scream. He did scream the time they took a bone sample. The  
last time they were there the doctors had so many wires and tubes on  
him he could barely move, it had taken over an hour to detach  
everything.  
  
What was worse, even though the researchers didn't intend to, when  
they were distracted or concentrating on the latest experiment they  
tended to react to Ranma as if he were a freak of nature. Each time  
she and Ranma returned from a visit Ranma noticeably backslid into  
depression, sometimes dramatically. On one occasion on the evening of  
their return she had caught Ranma contemplating his tanto where it was  
displayed in the living room. She had quickly hustled Ranma into a  
training session on that occasion.   
  
It may have been a mistake to parlay Ranma's curse into an admission  
into their medical program. Unfortunately, she have any other ideas  
compelling enough to get them into a school with Ranma's otherwise  
spotty record, his recent work notwithstanding. She still viewed the  
practice of medicine as the best route to rebuild Ranma emotionally.  
She had also hoped that the process of coming to understand his curse  
would help him come to terms with it. If they were very lucky, they  
might even come up with some way to mitigate it. He still hated being  
a girl though, and the way the examinations were going they might  
actually backfire and make him feel even worse about the curse than  
before.  
  
Sighing, Nabiki put off the issue until later. She'd talk to Cologne  
and ask her advice, and perhaps if she talked to Supinreru-sensei they  
could at least slow the pace of experimentation. Especially once they  
started classes nd were within daily reach she would have to be very  
careful to make certain the researchers didn't overwhelm Ranma.  
  
Also, they would have to start preparations for moving near the  
medical school. She intended to have them start a very heavy load of  
classes as soon as they passed their entrance exams. They would need  
to be close to the campus to do so, not several hours away by train,  
and that entailed apartment hunting. Not to mention scheduling visits  
back to Nermia, time with Cologne for further studies with her,  
finding a place where they could continue to practice martial arts in  
or near the college, and any number of other details, all of which  
would have to be in place quickly if they were to make the start of  
the semester. Nabiki reviewed her moving to do list, and added a few  
more items. She would schedule time for them to apartment hunt on  
their next visit.  
  
Sighing, Nabiki put her notebook away, hoping she was now tired  
enough. Just one more check on Ranma, and she would try to go to  
sleep again. Hopefully she could sleep without nightmares herself  
tonight. She would hate to have to get sleeping pills for herself.  
  
***   
  
Nabiki paused to take another sip of her bottled tea, and glanced over  
to where Ranma was looking at apartment listings. A pile of half  
complete medical school paperwork and class registration information  
sat in front of her.  
  
"How's the apartment hunt going Ranma ?" she inquired. "Anything  
promising yet ?"  
  
"A few. There's not much in the budget range you gave me within easy  
walking distance of both the school and a park with a good spot to  
practice martial arts" he replied. "Here, have a look while I get  
myself another tea. You want something ?"  
  
"Sure, another of these, please" said Nabiki, indicating her tea. She  
reached over and picked up the apartment listing Ranma had been  
perusing, and looked at the listings he had highlighted. She rapidly  
eliminated a couple of them, and double highlighted the ones she  
thought especially interesting.  
  
"What's wrong with that one ? Ranma asked, looking over her shoulder  
as he placed her new bottle of tea in from of her, and then moved back  
to his chair and sat down. The two of them sat in a western style  
coffeehouse just across the road from the school campus. It was a  
place obviously frequented by the local students, and had several key  
resources they needed, like copies of the apartment listing Ranma was  
currently taking back from Nabiki.  
  
Nabiki adjusted her new blouse to move a rough spot on the seam as she  
leaned over. One thing she rather liked about being out of high  
school was the freedom to wear what she liked. Or, at least, wear  
what she liked after she'd scheduled time to go shopping on the Kuno  
expense account. They couldn't afford anything extravagant, but it  
was still fun to do. Besides, she had thought Ranma would die in  
agony when she was dragging them between stores getting clothes for  
the two of them. It was the most fun she'd had since Ranma had come  
home after Akane. And despite his protests, she could see that Ranma  
was the better for it, too. It had certainly taken his mind off his  
other problems.  
  
"Well, this one may be close for you, but I still don't leap tall  
buildings in a single bound. Even if you were to carry me, I wouldn't  
recommend drawing more attention to yourself here than you have too"  
she pointed out. "It wouldn't do us much good to have the researchers  
here withhold your name, as agreed, if we go and make it obvious to  
everyone what you can do."  
  
"Alright, you have a point" Ranma acknowledged, his face darkening  
with the reminder of his "notoriety" with certain people on this same  
campus.   
  
Nabiki internally winced at Ranma's reaction. Time to change topics  
again. "Now this other one," Nabiki paused, and smirked, "Well, I  
think Cologne would be awfully disappointed in you, especially after  
you just said you weren't going to marry anyone. Our parents would  
like it, though."  
  
"Huh ? What'd'ya mean Nabiki ?" queried a puzzled Ranma.  
  
"It's one bedroom, you pervert. Trying to get me alone already, eh ?"  
Nabiki couldn't help but giggle when Ranma's face turned red from  
embarrassment.   
  
"Nabiki ! It ain't like that ! Come on, you know me better than  
that. It's not like I'd want to do anything, anyway."  
  
"What, I'm not attractive enough ?" Nabiki arched her back and pointed  
her chest at Ranma, adopting an obviously campy pout as well.  
  
"Ah man, that's not what I mean, either. I mean, you're pretty and  
all, but it's just, well, Akane ..." Ranma trailed off again, sadder  
this time.  
  
'Kuso', she swore to herself. 'That's one topic I did not want to  
come back to.' "I know Ranma. I'm sorry" she said, softly.  
"Anyway," she continued after a short pause, "that still leaves a good  
half dozen apartments we can look at. We should be able to find  
something there that will work."  
  
Ranma gave a weak smile, and nodded. Changing the topic himself, he  
asked, "What do our first semester class schedules look like so far ?  
I still can't believe that the dean decided to waive the entrance exam  
and just let us both in."  
  
"Well, when you finishing your high school degree in that short a  
time, and brought up your grade point average that much, it was  
impressive. I imagine the letters of recommendation that  
Hiniko-sensei arranged for you helped quite a bit, too. As for me,  
well, since I tutored you, I obviously know the material just as well,  
and those same letters of recommendation all confirmed it. Since  
they've already agreed to let us in as special students, it wasn't  
that hard to convince him." Nabiki shrugged modestly. It really  
wasn't that hard. Much easier than some of the schemes she had pulled  
off back in Nermia.  
  
"As far as our classes go, I've got us signed up for 24 credits each.  
This early in our program we can share them all too. In fact, we'll  
have share a good 60% of my class load. Unfortunately, you need more  
credits for your trauma medical program than I need for my nursing  
one, but I'll still be able to help you with your work so we can  
graduate and enter our residencies at the same time."  
  
"24 credits, huh ? That sounds like it will actually be a break,  
considering what you had me do to get my high school degree."  
  
"Yeah, well, we're just about out of time here. Help me finish up  
these forms quickly, and then we've got to see as many of these  
apartments as we can before we have to be in the labs again" requested  
Nabiki.   
  
Ranma's face fell again, and Nabiki again cursed herself. Quietly,  
she passed over half the pile of forms, and pushed a pen into Ranma's  
unresponsive hand before turning back to her own pile. 


	7. Promised Obsession

Chapter 07 - Promised Obsession  
  
Nabiki stood up from her seat next to Ranma in the lecture hall and  
stretched. This lecture class was the last courses they had, and one  
of the few bits of course work they were able to still do together.  
Their programs had differed significantly over the four years they had  
been in school. A glance at the watch peeking out from under the  
sleeve of her scrubs showed that they still had a quarter hour to  
cross the campus and be to at the hospital where they were serving  
their internships.  
  
As Ranma got up beside her gathered his notes, she took a moment to  
covertly study him while restuffing her notebook into her book-bag.  
The intervening years had made considerable changes in him. At 21,  
Ranma had broadened and filled out considerably. He still moved with  
the same lithe grace, but now his moves expressed a hidden power.  
Only on rare occasions was he subject the his earlier listlessness.  
His normal mood was now one of quiet confidence and lately it seemed,  
happiness, at least around her, which she didn't understand. Most  
prominent though was a constant, underlying, and unrelenting  
determination. One of the few features that remained of his earlier  
self was his trademark pigtail, still sticking over the collar of his  
own hospital scrubs.  
  
He noticed Nabiki's observation and favored her with a smile. Even  
four years later, she still closely watched over him at every  
opportunity. Not that he minded. Especially when he could catch her  
in the act and make her blush like that. Nabiki had also changed over  
the intervening time, and much for the better in his opinion. She  
still had the the same highly attractive features as before,  
highlighted at the moment in a delicate pink. By now, several years  
of the intense training regime he had instigated at her request had  
refined her body into a sculpture of perfectly defined curves and  
angles in all the right places.  
  
The pair made their way to the exit of the building, swinging their  
book-bags onto their backs and dropping off a few small items of  
trash. An alert observer would notice several signs of impending  
action. Glances were exchanged, position was subtly vied for, and an  
almost unnoticeable tension crept into their motions. Several of the  
other students had stopped just outside in anticipation while being  
careful not to block the door. Walking out the door, Nabiki posed  
today's stakes, "Loser makes dinner and does dishes tonight ?" The  
flush returns for a brief moment, and she continues with a surpressed  
smile, "and keep your hands in safe places this time, pervert."  
  
"First one to drop something loses," he agrees, exactly side by side  
with her, not ceding any advantage of position, "and I ain't the  
pervert, here. I still say that you arranged that incident,  
'Biki-chan'."  
  
"I can only credit the evidence I see, or feel in this case, " Nabiki  
smirked, "not your uninformed speculations. And don't call be  
'Biki-chan', 'Pervert'."  
  
At some unseen signal, the two of them leaped into motion at exactly  
the same moment, encouraged by a vigorous cheer from the watching  
faculty and students. Nabiki sailed on a graceful parabola three  
meters high, the contents of her book-bag exploding from her rapidly  
flying hands in all directions, followed by the book-bag itself.  
Below her, Ranma bounced along an insane zig-zag course, somehow  
managing to meet and relaunch each flying pen or notebook before it  
reached the ground. He quickly added to the aerial carnage with the  
contents of his own book-bag as well as that of the pockets of his  
scrubs.  
  
Nabiki was forced to provide her own impression of a demented  
grasshopper on crack as she met the falling items in turn.  
Additionally, she was soon forced to deal with several distraction  
attempts, dodging sweeps, throws and other techniques while  
relaunching the flying menagerie. The distractions she dealt back in  
turn whenever Ranma was reaching for a falling book or stethoscope.  
The cascade of flying objects marked their erratic course across the  
campus.  
  
By now, the spectacle provided by the pair's antics had come to be the  
norm on the campus, and was generally treated with good cheer, not to  
mention a certain amount of wagering. Passing friends or colleagues  
cried out encouragement to whomever they favored, including members of  
the original Jusenko curse research group which had been their  
original excuse for being there. While the research group had made no  
progress on understanding the curse itself, they had gradually come to  
accept the enhanced prowess demonstrated by their favorite subject,  
especially as they were able to see the gradual improvement of Nabiki  
to near those same levels. They had managed to to come up with a few  
measures designed to help those subject to the curse, however, one of  
which was demonstrated when Ranma's course intercepted a sprinkler. A  
brief blurring of his form between smaller and larger was settled in  
favor of the larger as soon as his body cleared the cold water.  
  
Finally, having covered the width of the campus, they neared their  
eventual goal of the hospital building itself. Ranma had just flipped  
feet toward the concrete wall of the small cryogenics tank enclosure  
in preparation for another bounce at the incoming stream of flying  
Demetrius, when the wall beneath him suddenly disintegrated into flying  
rubble. Deprived of his landing spot, Ranma shot through the new hole  
and landed on something inside with a yelp. The something responded  
with a curse of it's own as books, pencils, notebooks, book-bags,  
wallets, stethoscopes, and miscellaneous objects settled about him.  
  
"Rraaannnmmaa !", growled the landed upon figure, "GET OFFA ME !"  
  
"Ryoga ! " cried Ranma, happily, jumping up. "It's good to see you  
man ! It's been what, a year ? And you couldn't stick around last  
time. Hey, I got a sturdier replacement for that last anti-change box  
we tried for ya."  
  
Nabiki poked her head inside the hole with a smirk. "Did the great  
Ranma Saotome get surprised ? Oh well, looks like you lose this time  
Ranma. Ryoga, however did you get in here ?"  
  
"Ah man" whined Ranma, not too unhappily. "I haven't had to cook for  
a week. Now I gotta pay Keito off, too. Shoulda never bet a week's  
pay with her."  
  
Ryoga looked confused, "How did I get in where Nabiki, and what are  
you doing in Okinawa ?"  
  
"Ranma, you jerk, you bet _how_ much ? I think we'll have to talk  
about this. I know I'm not as good as you, but still you should be  
risking our finances. Even though we're being paid now, the Kuno  
trust is running out." Her reproach was unfortunately negated by her  
still excited and happy face.  
  
Turning toward Ryoga she continued, "You're at our school again,  
Ryoga, although how you got in a walled enclosure with only one,  
locked, door is anyone's guess." Nabiki looked again at Ranma. "Three  
minutes left until you start your rounds," she said. "We better clean  
up. Fortunately, I think the Kuno trust still has some repair funds  
in it which should cover this damage. The hospital administrator is  
going to be pissed again, though." Ryoga cringed at hearing this  
last.  
  
"Okay. Ryoga, we'll have to wait until tonight to fight. You can  
have supper with us, and call Akari from our place, right ?"  
  
Again, Ranma and Nabiki sprung into a ballet of motion, with objects  
flying in a apparently chaotic disorder. Shortly, Ryoga found himself  
magically transported to the outside side of the wall, which had the  
rubble cleared away and it's hole covered in a sheet of plywood from  
somewhere unfathomable. Ranma and Nabiki, also apparently by magic,  
were again wearing full bags and had pockets filled with the  
appropriate contents, and sported matching happy smiles.  
  
"Now wait right here until one of us comes for you, or I'll have to  
let slip who made this hole in the wall. Hmm, the research group  
might want to study your sense of direction too." Nabiki lectured  
briefly, with another smirk. The two then turned and made for  
different entrances of the hospital complex. Ryoga could see the  
happy expressions slowly fall from both of their faces, and noticed  
that they were much slower alone than they had been when together.  
  
Cowed by Nabiki's threat, Ryoga sat down with his back to the damaged  
wall, and pondered the confusing changes in his erstwhile rival.  
  
***  
  
A cry of "Hey pervert ! Over here !" split the air of the campus,  
drawing the attention of the aforesaid young man. Ranma, not Ryoga,  
that is. Ryoga, waiting as promised with Ranma at the base of the  
wall he had broken earlier, turned at the sound. He was well placed  
to see both Ranma's and Nabiki's faces as they came in sight of each  
other. While Ranma had been courteous and friendly in their  
conversation (a change which still unsettled Ryoga), his expression  
immediately changed to a far happier, far less guarded one on catching  
sight of the young Tendo. Nabiki, too, underwent a similar  
transformation, although it was even more noticeable in her, as she  
lost the older, Furikan era ice queen facade, exchanging it for a  
happy and excited face of any young woman.  
  
"Great news Ranma !" Nabiki rushed excitedly, as she impatiently  
flipped over the last obstacles between them, a small group of  
pedestrians. Ranma arrested her forward motion, catching Nabiki with  
a quick spin, and the two of them separated, without seeming to notice  
that Ranma had ended up holding Nabiki's hand. "I think I've managed  
a deal where you can do accelerated residencies and bypass the normal  
match process. They need nurses, too. Come on, I'll fill you in on  
the way home. Wanna race again ? Oh, I forgot we have company. Hi  
again Ryoga."  
  
Ryoga blinked for a moment, startled at the prospect of Nabiki  
forgetting anything, then jerked into motion following the rapidly  
chattering pair in front of him. He caught up in time to hear Nabiki  
saying, "So they need another doctor for both Emergency Med and  
General Surgery, and they're willing to accept a resident since  
they've got enough senior staff, and they've heard of us. That  
matches both your specialties, and they want another nurse, too.  
We've got an interview in a week. It matches what we're doing now  
very well, too."  
  
"Nabiki, where are you going, and what are you doing now ? " Ryoga  
finally manages to interject.  
  
"It's a job with the International Committee of the Red Cross disaster  
relief team. They're creating a new 'first responder' medical  
assistance team. We'd get to go wherever there's a problem or  
disaster and help." Nabiki chirps happily. "As to what we've been  
doing the last couple of years, well, wait until we get to our place,  
and we'll show you." Nabiki pointed to the third floor balcony of the  
apartment building the were approaching.  
  
At this, another remarkable sequence of events occurred. In a wholly  
unprompted sequence so sudden and smooth that it could only have  
normally achieved by a trained team with years of practice, Nabiki  
took a high step, stepping into the cradled hands of a suddenly turned  
Ranma, who had dropped to one knee. Ranma smoothly straightened and  
flung Nabiki into the air, assisting her simultaneous leap. Nabiki  
flipped once in the air and landed softly feet first on the balcony  
she just indicated, Ranma not more than a few seconds behind jumping  
up in stages via the balconies of the floors below.  
  
Nabiki smirked and waved at a shocked Ryoga before entering the open  
balcony door, and Ranma called down before entering himself, "What are  
you waiting for ? Come on up."  
  
Ryoga, quite suddenly alone, stood in shock. After opening and  
closing his mouth ineffectually a few times, he finally mutters,  
"Since when did they join the circus ?"  
  
***  
  
In Ranma and Nabiki's apartment Ryoga turns from examining the wall of  
the small living and dining area. Behind him, Nabiki kneels at a  
small table, rapidly working though a pile of paperwork or perhaps  
homework spread out before her. Paper flutter rapidly enough to sound  
like the shuffling of a deck of cards.  
  
Ranma is cooking in the tiny kitchen lining the shorter of the  
interior walls, knives and implements flashing in the unnerving speed  
both have been displaying. Both have changed into casual, but loose  
clothing. Ranma no longer sports his Chinese style shirt, instead  
wearing a baggy sweatshirt with the arms torn off and a picture of a  
tall gray American cartoon rabbit. Nabiki sports a matching  
sweatshirt with the same character dressed in drag. Both shoot  
frequent short, glances at the other, as if to assure themselves of  
the other's continuing presence. The small room nearly seems to  
sparkle, overflowing with their energy.  
  
Ryoga turns back to the wall. Nabiki had indicated it to him when he  
appeared over the balcony railing himself, shortly informing him that  
it would answer his other question. It is covered with newspaper  
clippings, letters, and pictures. The headlines all have a common  
theme: "Local medical students revive crash victim", "Local resident  
injured rescuing pedestrian from speeding bus", "Med school hero  
contains hazardous chemical spill, treats workers", "College students  
rescue hostages". It seems that Ranma and Nabiki have spent the last  
few years giving the local Fire and Rescue council some unasked for  
assistance.  
  
Pride of place is given to a full front page of a newspaper. Fully  
half the page is a dramatic color shot of an obviously scorched Ranma  
sprinting away from a huge inferno consuming a high rise apartment  
building, carrying a child wrapped in blankets in his arms. One of  
the smaller pictures framing the text shows Ranma leaping between  
balconies, apparently just missing a piece of flaming debris. Another  
shows him giving the child to a woman, who the caption claims to be  
the mother. It is noticeably that even though Ranma appears in the  
photo to be having difficulty breathing, his clothes burned through in  
spots, and large and apparent burn blisters show on him, the child  
appears to be unharmed, even happy. A substance which looks  
suspiciously like frost flakes off the blanket.  
  
Ranma is by now bringing a stack of plates and serving utensils and  
pots of food to the table, which is cleared for him in another display  
of perfect timing by Nabiki. Noticing Ryoga's focus of attention,  
Ranma comments. "We nearly ran short of time to get that kid out.  
She was the last one, fortunately. I'm still kinda pissed the paper  
didn't show any of the shots of Nabiki, though. We did a tag team on  
that one - I threw and she caught. It's our largest rescue to date."  
  
Ryoga gapes a moment. What the hell have they been doing ?  
Strangely, as they sit to eat, he begins to see something familiar in  
Ranma, and, come to think of, in Nabiki too. It's almost feels like  
his old obsession to find and punish Ranma, back in high school. But  
that can't be right, can it ? He looks again, looking into their  
auras this time, and what he sees only seems to confirm his suspicion.  
That powerful and pure of a set of auras could only be generated by a  
strong purity of purpose. It was one of the reasons why he himself  
was able to learn the shi-shi-hokodan so quickly those years earlier,  
his hate and obsession with Ranma was so all consuming.  
  
Watching their actions now seemed to make more sense, even sitting and  
eating, neither of them was idle or even doing just a single thing.  
Instead both keep occupied doing multiple tasks, completing  
correspondence, writing up notes on their patients, and holding a  
conversation about the new residency opportunity. They both finished  
the meal in Saotome time, and despite the earlier contest terms,  
cooperate in clearing the table and washing the dishes, excepting the  
heaped plate still only a third finished in front of Ryoga.  
  
Despite the lingering mistrust and antagonism he still felt toward  
Ranma, Ryoga almost felt pity. He truly hoped that they were not as  
fanatically dedicated toward their path as they appeared. He now  
understood the futility and self destructive nature of such obsession.  
Just to confirm it, and to antagonize Ranma, of course, he pointed to  
a line of letters pinned up along the bottom of the display. All of  
them were from the local authorities, fire, police, or rescue,  
castigating the pair in some way for their risky behavior and telling  
them to leave the work to the duly appointed professionals. "Still a  
jerk and a trouble maker, aren't you Ranma ? You've been in trouble  
with the local authorities ever since I've known you. First at  
school, and now here. You also seem to have a knack for dragging a  
Tendo into trouble with you."  
  
"Feh. When those losers have gotten through eight years combined of  
college degree and four year med school in half the time, and broken  
up half the crimes or saved half the people we have in the past four  
years, then they can say somethin' to me." Suddenly his gaze hardens,  
and his eyes flash brilliantly. "And leave Nabiki outta this. It's  
her choice, and you got no right to say anythin' 'bout her. This is  
in honor 'o Akane and a promise I made the Tendos, and not you or  
anybody else's gonna stop me, got it ?"  
  
"Ranma, it's alright. Ryoga doesn't understand." Nabiki stops him,  
laying her hand on his arm. "Why don't you get that new model curse  
mitigation box, the copy of the one you wear now. You've been going  
to send it to Ryoga, anyway."  
  
With a visible effort, Ranma regains control, and the fire in his  
brilliant eyes dampens. Turning, he vanishes for a moment,  
reappearing in front of Ryoga carrying a compact, flat box on a belt.  
"Here, ya wear this against your skin, and keep it filled with water  
and propane. When the belt starts to loose tension, the box squirts  
ya with hot water, it reverses the change before it can really take  
effect, so long as you're not totally immersed. It should hold up  
better than the one we shipped ya at the Unryu farm. I been wearing  
one like it for 6 months, and if that" Ranma waves his hand at the  
wall of newspaper clippings "ain't hurt it, nothin's gonna."  
  
Ranma pauses a moment "Meanwhile, finish up and we'll go to the park &  
spar. Ya can call Akari from here, and either stay overnight here or  
leave tonight after our fight. Either way we'll get 'ya to the train  
station."  
  
Ryoga finally nods and digs into the rest of his food. Nabiki was  
wrong, though, he did understand. An obsession didn't have to make  
sense, it just was. And as honor driven as Ranma was, that only made  
it far worse. He finished his meal in silence, there was nothing more  
to be said.  
  
***  
  
Authors notes -  
  
Despite working at a medical institution and school, I'm a programmer,  
not a doctor, and I'm certain I don't really understand what goes into  
making one. I got my information on medical school from the wonderful  
"How stuff works" website, http://www.howstuffworks.com.  
  
I am also certain that a Japanese medical school differs in perhaps  
significant ways from an American one. Sorry 'bout that, but I can  
only write what I can find out. 


	8. What they do best

Chapter 08 - What they do best  
  
Nabiki leaned her head into Ranma and snuggled into his encircling  
arm, as they both got a precious few hours of rest before the ordeal  
they knew to be coming. The two of them recline in the cargo webbing  
of a C130 cargo aircraft, lulled into sleep by the drone of the  
engines. They were surrounded by boxes and containers containing a  
small but complete field hospital, medicines, and some generic relief  
supplies such as food, blankets, and water purifiers. Both wear  
modified flight suit like attire emblazoned with the logo of the  
International Red Cross and bearing their names on breast patches.  
The handles of various medical instruments and tools can be seen  
peeking from the various pockets and compartments of their outfits.  
  
Here and there in the gloom of the crowded cargo bay, various other  
people could be seen employing the same precaution, rest before  
action. It was local night, and there were still a few hours before  
arriving at their destination.  
  
Just behind the flight stations, a small desk was bolted to the wall,  
maps were spread out on it, and a laptop computer was seen spreading  
it's glow. A large and stocky redheaded but graying northern European  
man was seen there talking on a satellite phone, occasionally taking  
notes or looking something up on his laptop. He was dressed similarly  
to Ranma and Nabiki. The name tag embroidered on his breast patch  
identified him as one Dr. Hallfreid Føllesdal, chief administrator.  
Concluding his conversation, the man sighed, turned off the phone, and  
reached for the light switches to the compartment.  
  
Groans and complaints floated ethereally from various corners and  
crannies as people responded to the light, and pulled themselves  
forward to receive whatever news had caused their waking.  
  
"Everyone here, yes ? The situation has just grown much worse, and is  
not what we had anticipated when we left." The large man spoke  
English with a distinct Norwegian accent. The gathered group of  
people around him showed a contrasting polyglot of cultures. When the  
group had first formulated, English had been the language of choice,  
and while not everyone had spoken it with the same starting fluency,  
two years of constant use had at least allowed everyone to understand  
each other.  
  
"What's up chief ?" Ranma wanted to know. "I thought this was a  
fairly standard post-hurricane medical relief run. Ya know,  
dysentery, cholera, a few broken bones & get clean water working.  
Nothing serious."  
  
"Hush up, baka, let Hallfreid say his piece." Nabiki elbowed Ranma, a  
process complicated by the fact that his arm was still around her, and  
that her arm ended up around him when done. By now, elbowing Ranma  
was more likely to bruise the joint of the elbower rather than having  
any effect on the elbowee, but it was the principle that counted.  
  
"Eager as always, are we ?" the large man snorted. "Well, this may be  
one of the crazy situations the two of you seem to be liking then.  
Something happened, perhaps another Hindu and Muslim clash in the wake  
of the typhoon, who is to know ? The result has become wide spread  
rioting. Even worse, apparently that rioting has damaged an  
industrial center. There are reports of a very large chemical fire.  
We do not know the cause or exact spread, or perhaps extent, of the  
fire, but several of the factories in or near the fire are know to  
have great store of toxic chemicals."  
  
"The Indian government reports that their troops have secured our  
landing site, and so we will not divert. We still land in two hours.  
We will be treating for chemical exposure and many blunt trauma  
wounds. Some form of decontamination apparatus will be necessary, as  
the Americans say, we will have to jury right. The local government is  
unlikely to be prepared to respond to a chemical spill in addition to  
restoring order and quelling the riots."  
  
"I think that is 'jury rig' Hallfreid, not 'jury right'. I suppose it  
is too much to ask that our two crazy members provide treatment back  
at the base this time, yes ?" a tall elegant black woman spoke up  
with an amused and exasperated glance at Nabiki and Ranma. "It's only  
through divine providence that we haven't ended up treating our own  
members more than the people we purport to help."  
  
"You know better than that, Thandi. All, together now, what's that  
famous Dr. Saotome saying ? " prompts a squat, grinning, southern  
Chinese man.  
  
"Ya can't save lives sitt'n on your ass" choruses the group together.  
  
"Yes, yes. Let's just keep the focus on saving the lives of others,  
rather than our own. Dr. Hong, you have the inventory of this  
aircraft, yes ?" Dr. Føllesdal takes control of the situation as his  
voice turns formal, the use of last names a sure sign that the time  
for banter had passed.  
  
"Take Dr. Saotome with you and see how much of the hose and plastic  
sheeting we have, yes ? We will be needing them for chemical showers.  
Nurse Tendo, you have contacts with the regional Red Cross, do you not  
? You will please to contact them with the satellite phone and  
arrange a bulldozer with which to make a chemical holding pond, and  
also to contact the regional government for the same. I will continue  
discussions with the Indian military and national government about the  
logistical support. Dr. Inkwazi, take the rest of the group and  
insure that all of our equipment and packing is such that we can be  
unloaded and operational in the minimum time. We managed 4.5 hours  
last time, we will need to be operational at least that quickly again.  
I think we will also keep the plane ready for a quick evacuation if  
the toxic chemicals undergo a wide dispersal."  
  
Ranma gives Nabiki a quick squeeze as the pair reluctantly separate.  
"Come help as soon as you're finished, right ?"  
  
"Uh, huh. Just can't work alone, can you, baka ? Don't worry, With  
luck this won't take too long" she teases him through her own  
reluctance, and watches Ranma disappear with the rest of the team in  
the depths of the cargo. Finally, she turns back to the concerned  
gaze of the large Norwegian. "Okay, Dr. Føllesdal, what's really up.  
You and I both know that your contacts are as good or better than  
mine, and getting something as straightforward as some earth-movers is  
as easily done through the local military."  
  
The graying redhead gives her a lopsided smile. "In the two years we  
have worked together, I have yet to successfully disassemble before  
you, yes ?"  
  
"That's dissemble," she groans theatrically, "even we Japanese have  
better English classes than that, and get on with it, please."  
  
He drops his smile and considers the nurse before him for a moment  
before continuing. "This situation differs from those you have faced  
before. I desire you to curtail your normal activities to an extent.  
I am concerned that the displays of acrobatics you and the doctor you  
so firmly attach yourself too are so fond of will not avail you in  
clouds of drifting, perhaps invisible poisons, and I wish to lose  
neither of you. I hope you can prevail on your daredevil friend that  
this situation should perhaps be handled differently. It is hopeless  
to try to speak with him, I have tried often enough."  
  
He ends with an unusually serious personal appeal. "Please Nabiki,  
the patients can be brought to us, you need not seek them out."  
  
Nabiki shook her head automatically. "You know we had our agreement  
when we first started working with you. It's unusual, yes, but  
effective. You have to admit we have reached and saved many people  
that standard rescue crews would not have been able too. And even as  
a resident, you yourself have admitted that Ranma's in situ medical  
care is as good as what they would have gotten back at the hospital."  
  
"I still do not understand how you two find the victims so quickly and  
accurately, all your talk of ki and auras notwithstanding. Yes, yes,"  
he forestalls her comment, "I remember the oft repeated offer to have  
Dr. Saotome train us, too. I have seen what the two of you call  
training, however, and still have little desire to subject my old  
carcass to such abuse."  
  
"But I leave the topic. Is there no way I can persuade you to operate  
with some modicum of restraint ? Despite our arrangement, I do not  
truly understand why it is you undertake so much more risk."  
  
Nabiki cocks her head and considered. "We haven't wanted to talk  
about our past much. Perhaps it's time you hear, though. I guess it  
can do no harm at this point. Well, we have a bit of time. I'll help  
you arrange the necessary on site support with the Indian authorities  
if you'll listen to an abridged version of our history. Meanwhile,  
don't worry about us. Ranma has a lot more tricks up his sleeves than  
you've yet seen."  
  
***  
  
Dr. Hallfreid Føllesdal watched with trepidation as his pair of  
problem daredevils made ready for their customary expedition, their  
portion of the portable base hospital setup completed, (which portion  
it should be mentioned was nearly half the total work, and completed  
in less time than the others combined) . Nurse Tendo picking up bags  
of plasma, making them vanish in that inexplicable way they both used.  
Even stranger, they were somehow always at the perfect temperature  
when one of the pair retrieved them; cool when the unused ones were  
put back into refridgeration, and body temperature warm for use.  
  
Shortly, she turned to gathering up some of their limited store of  
jury-rigged chemical neutralizing agents. Dr. Saotome was checking  
the headset communicators he had long insisted they both carry, and  
was demonstrating the portable medical transceivers and locator  
beacons to the Indian transport division army officer who was assigned  
to provide the team with ambulance service. The beacons, left on the  
patients found and treated by the pair would guide the Indian army  
transports to the necessary locations to pick up and return them to  
the base hospital. The compact pieces of technology would also  
provide the hospital with a live feed on the health of each patient.  
  
He knew now that any hope of persuading the pair was moot. While of  
course he had seen their actions during earlier assignments and had  
suspected the two of such motivation, he had not understood the depth  
of their obsession. He had been exposed to some smatterings of  
Japanese culture during his career, and the way the young Nurse had  
phrased their so called obligations left him cold. In his heart, he  
feared that this situation was different, an ongoing threat that could  
not be handled the same as the raging fires, earthquakes, and even the  
genocidal paramilitaries they had all faced before. This was not a  
human enemy which could be fought, or something like fire that could  
be detected before it hurt, or collapsed rubble which mere physical  
force could effect.  
  
Turning, he could see the dirty grim light of fires reflected off the  
low hanging pall of smoke clouds. Even at this distance, he could see  
that the clouds were not composed of the standard relatively harmless  
soot and smoke. Hints of strange and sickly colors outlined the  
distant gloom. Fortunately, the gentle wind was blowing out to sea,  
and the toxic clouds did not yet threaten the city or their field  
hospital. He knew how fickle the winds were at the end of monsoon,  
however, and feared.  
  
He reminded himself again to periodically check the weather as he  
watched the young pair finish their preparations and suddenly bound  
over the line of army trucks and encircling security troops and onto  
the roofs of the nearest buildings. Quickly they raced outward,  
outpacing the lumbering army provided ambulances that would be  
supporting them. Turning back to the tracking and communication  
equipment they would use to coordinate, he offered a sincere prayer to  
whatever god might be listening, be his native Christian one, or the  
Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist spirits who were revered locally.  
  
***  
  
As always in the midst of such a crisis, time soon ceased to have  
great meaning. Dr. Føllesdal did not know if it had been hours or  
days since the team had setup and begin treating patients. Additional  
supplies arriving from the army, the local authorities, and other  
international relief organizations had to be properly dispositioned.  
Additional medical personal arriving from local clinics too damaged to  
continue operations had to be integrated with his own staff.  
Facilities had to be jury rigged to flush and treat those victims  
exposed to the drifting clouds of toxic chemicals the locals had  
little experience in dealing with. He had organized it all, somehow,  
into a functioning, effective response, as always, in addition to  
treating his own share of the patients.  
  
And, as always, a steady stream of ambulances had been entering their  
camp, carrying those patients the riot or hurricane damaged local  
hospitals did not have the space or expertise to treat. Again, as per  
normal, it seemed like the majority of patients flowing into their  
base were ones found, treated, and evacuated by the Saotome and Tendo  
team. The ambulance drivers and army patrols sent out from this  
epicenter seemed to be awe, and several comments reached him about the  
remarkable paucity of active rioters whenever the ambulances made  
pickup and along their routes. Unconscious ones abounded, however.  
  
Given this workload, he could be forgiven for not noticing the weather  
alert he had programmed earlier flashing in the corner of one of the  
communication screens in the command tent. The wind was shifting, and  
the drifting clouds were no longer heading harmlessly to sea. Soon,  
they would be coming inland, instead.  
  
The tall elegant black woman whose name-tag identified her as  
Dr. Thandi Inkwazi entered the command tent bearing two cups of coffee  
and some sandwiches . "Here, Hallfreid, eat. I swear you are as bad  
sometimes as that juvenile Japanese pair we pretend to ride herd on  
from time to time. Speaking of, they seem to be up to their usual  
tricks. Half the locals, particularly the riot injured ones, seem to  
ready to worship them, and the other half want to exile them as  
supernatural. Fortunately, Ranma apparently hasn't been caught  
changing sexes this time. We don't need another p.r. disaster like  
that. How are they, by the way ?"  
  
Wearily, the big graying redhead took a bite of a sandwich and waved a  
hand at the communications screen. "As per normal, they seem to have  
exhausted the opportunity to play hero locally, and are working quite  
far afield by now."  
  
"Hmm." the woman commented non-committally. She examining the on  
screen map display showing the location of the communication beacons  
worn by the pair, along with all the med beacons they had left to be  
picked up by ambulance. "What's this flashing in the corner of the  
screen ?"  
  
Turning to answer her question, the team administrator finally saw the  
weather alert. By this time however, it was too late, he could see by  
the accompanying live satellite imagery that the toxic clouds were  
well inland, and if the location beacons were to be believed, Saotome  
and Tendo were positioned right on top of a large flaming industrial  
complex directly in the cloud's path.  
  
"Saotome, Tendo, this is base," he turned to the communications  
station in a vain hope of recalling the pair.  
  
"Relax Chief, if you're calling about the wind, we already know about  
it. I'm on top of it" came the voice of the young Japanese man over  
the speakers, followed by some shouted incomprehensible Japanese  
phrase. On the satellite feed, something very strange indeed suddenly  
appeared to be happening. The hotspot of the industrial fire appeared  
to be concentrating, growing far hotter, and gathering the drifting  
clouds into itself.  
  
Looking out the open sides of the tent, the amazed pair saw what  
appeared to be a highly localized windstorm suddenly forming a tightly  
compacted whirling tunnel of air and flame. Rising up like a flaming  
dragon of legend, it pierced the overcast and reached high into the  
upper levels of the atmosphere. The drifting toxic clouds were  
consumed by the raging monster of storm and fire and dissipated many  
tens of thousands of feet in the air, far above where any civilians  
would be immediately threatened. Better still, it was doubtful the  
toxic gases would still remain a threat after passing through the  
thousand plus degree inferno, the temperature scale shown by infrared  
satellite image didn't go that high. It would be like the  
incinerators commonly used to dispose of such toxic chemicals, only on  
a huge scale.  
  
"There." the self satisfied but weary voice crackled over the speakers  
again, barely heard over the howling wind in the background. "That'll  
last as long as the fire here holds out. From the look of those oil  
tanks, that's several days at least."  
  
The beacons on screen soon began moving again. The watching doctors  
could see a trail of med beacons being left as more patients were  
found in the ruined industrial complex, several being moved further  
away from the massive storm. The two doctors in the tent watched in  
shock until they were interrupted by group of panicked local  
authorities, demanding to know what had just happened.  
  
***  
  
Days later, our pair of heros lounged, exhausted, in the command  
tent. The two of them had managed to retain some degree of bodily  
contact since their return, even while wolfing down a huge stack of  
sandwiches and seeming gallons of coffee. Even now they had scooted  
the chairs they slumped in next to each other, and had intertwined  
their arms.   
  
The two were regarded by an also tired Dr. Føllesdal, although not  
nearly to the same extent. He was actually coherent as he briefed the  
pair. "The disaster relief is well underway, all our patients are all  
released or under care in the local hospitals, the chemical threat is  
ended and the fire has been contained." He got a brief mischievous  
look. "Remarkably, the rioting ended shortly after some unique  
weather phenomena ended the chemical threat. I understand that many  
of the local populace view this as divine intervention." He paused to  
see what, if any, reaction would be forthcoming.  
  
Upon receiving no reaction, he continued, "The rest of us start  
packing our equipment tomorrow, to return to Geneva." He paused  
again to see if this would get a rise out of the pair.  
  
Nabiki cracked open one bloodshot eye and looked at him. "The rest of  
us ?" she croaked. Ranma indicated some small level of alertness with  
a grunt in the administrators direction.  
  
"Yes, the rest of us. After the two of you catch up on the sleep you  
have refused to take the last several days, you are going to go on  
vacation, with these." He slid a pair of letters down the table to  
the pair. "It is mine and Dr's Inkwazi's and Hong's opinion that the  
two of you have admirably fulfilled your residency requirements,  
despite the shortened time frame. These letters are our certification  
of this. I have already spoken with your Japanese certification  
agency. They seemed to be already familiar with you. They promised  
to forward the appropriate certifications as soon as they received  
copies of these letters, which I have already sent."  
  
"Further, neither of you have taken any time off since you started  
with us. After talking to your Japanese authorities, it seems you may  
not have rested for the past six years. Starting the day after  
tomorrow, I expect to not see or hear from either of you for the next  
three months. Relax and enjoy yourselves, if you still know how.  
Nurse Tendo, if you could detangle yourself, I wish to speak with  
Dr. Saotome a moment. Go shower, I will not keep him here long."  
  
By now, Nabiki had opened both eyes, first in shock that their last  
certification requirements had been completed so quickly, and not by  
her, and secondly in reaction to, a, a, vacation ? Whatever would  
they do on a vacation ? Her brain not working, Nabiki's mouth  
responded on autopilot. "Leave this pervert ? You're kidding, right  
? I can't do that. Who knows what trouble he'd get into. Probably  
change sexes and try to use the women's shower again or something."  
  
The big doctor looked at her with a fatherly gaze. "Please Nabiki, I  
only need a moment, and it's important."  
  
Evenually responding, Nabiki gradually arose in a shock and fatigue  
induced daze, clutched her and Ranma's letters, and shuffled out,  
casting a lost and alone look back at Ranma.  
  
When Ranma arose in concern and no less fatigue in response to  
Nabiki's expression, Dr. Føllesdal stepped forward and stopped the  
young man. "She'll be alright, Ranma. I'll send you to her shortly."  
Even so, Ranma watched her until she was met by another of the team's  
nurses, who supported Nabiki walking toward the makeshift showers and  
barracks that had been set up.  
  
When Ranma finally turned back, the stocky Norwegian continued, his  
use of first names an indication non-professional matters. "Ranma, as  
a friend and a mentor, I have a bit of personal advice, if you would."  
He looked seriously at the young man before him until Ranma nodded.   
  
"Have you given thought to the relationship between yourself and  
Nabiki ? The two of you have grown perhaps more attached than you  
admit. I recommend that you consider a formal arrangement of some  
kind between you. You are already as or more intimate than a married  
couple in every way excepting sex. At least I assume that last to be  
the case. No, wait, don't interrupt, it doesn't matter what you may  
or may not have done together. I merely wish to see two people of  
whom I have grown fond have as much comfort as they may. Given your  
lifestyle, you should take what chance you have to be together."  
  
Turning away, he indicated the interview was over. "Regardless, enjoy  
yourselves Ranma. DongEn, you can come in now, Ranma and I are done."   
  
As the stumbling Ranma was lead wearily away by his chinese colleague,  
only a single thought ran through his dazed mind. "Nabiki and Me ?  
Married ?"  
  
*** Authors Notes  
  
Almost done with this story, only one more chapter to go. Reviews  
seem to have petered out, however. Is anyone reading this ? Is there  
interest in me finishing ? Let me know. 


	9. Redemption

Chapter 09 - Redemption  
  
"Ranma ! Nabiki ! Over here !"   
  
Ranma and Nabiki cleared the customs doorway of the Honolulu  
International Airport and looked for the origin of the call.   
  
A bouncy well endowed Chinese woman with unusual long lavender hair  
peaking out from under a baseball cap waved from where she stood  
balanced on the back of a row of airport seats. This was, of course,  
Shampoo, but if you hadn't seen her in the past six years you might be  
forgiven for mistaking her for someone else. For one thing, she spoke  
fluent english. For another, she wasn't wearing her prior outfit de  
rigueur of a silk chinese dress or pantsuit. Instead, a pair of tight  
cutoff jean shorts and t-shirt with the bottom torn off covered  
glimpses of a bikini. A pair of aviator glasses perched atop the cap  
and a set of sturdy hiking boots completed the ensemble. Shampoo had  
grown a few more inches and a radiant tan during the past years, while  
loosing none of her curvaceousness.  
  
If more confirmation of Shampoo's identity was needed, it could be had  
with the simple expedient of looking at the person behind her.  
Whatever the changes in Shampoo had been, Mousse hadn't changed. He  
still work his long sleeve white robes, still had long silky black  
hair, and still had cokebottle bottom glasses. Well, okay, he had  
changed a little. He actually wore the glasses now, and had filled  
out and broadened a little as well. He looked ridiculously  
overdressed for Hawaii.  
  
On catching sight of the pair, Ranma's face broke into a smile.  
Holding Nabiki's hand he threaded a graceful path through the crowds.   
"Shampoo, Mousse ! It's good to see you !" Hugs and handshakes were  
exchanged all around. "Been keeping in practice, I see. Good ! We  
need some more sparring partners !"  
  
"Thanks for offering to put us up on vacation here. We really didn't  
want to stay in Nermia after the first couple of days disaster with  
our parents, and didn't really have anywhere else to go." Nabiki  
found Ranma's hand again with one of hers and gestured with the other.  
  
"No problem. When I got the note from Great Grandmother saying you  
needed someplace to go, I was happy too help. It's also our duty  
since Great Grandmother adopted you into the tribe. Besides, you've  
fallen into the right company here. I'm running my own charter  
touring company with Mousse for the rich Americans and Japanese who  
vacation here. Mousse and I can show you all the sights. I even have  
my own helicopter now. It's a blast. Better than landing my bicycle  
on you, even." Shampoo laughs in memory, and Mousse grimaces.  
  
"That's great ! We really have no idea what to do with ourselves  
right now, and we're not supposed to go back for another 13 weeks. So  
anyway, what brought you to Hawaii, of all places ? I would have  
guessed you would go back home to the village after you left Nermia.  
Elder Cologne never told us."  
  
"Since when have you stopped calling Great Grandmother 'old ghoul',  
Ranma ? And your English is a lot more polished than what I remember  
your Japanese. Looks like ours isn't the only story. Let's get your  
luggage, and we can talk on the way, or tomorrow. There's no hurry,  
after all. We'll use my chopper to get home over on Lanai island.  
You'll like it, there's a lot less people there."  
  
"Don't worry about luggage. We're carrying everything already."  
Nabiki responds. "You know, your english is pretty good, too. And  
when did you get helicopter of your own ? That's impressive. Where's  
it at ?"  
  
Mousse and Shampoo look at the two small bags carried by Ranma and  
Nabiki. "That's all your luggage ?" asks Mousse. "I should have known  
you'd still have to better me, Saotome. You didn't have to start  
practicing hidden weapons, too."  
  
"Mousse, be nice. They just might not have brought much, you know."  
Shampoo reproves. "Besides, you only carry that training potty in  
your robes for pride's sake."  
  
"Well, actually, I'm afraid it's a bit of both." Ranma admits. "We do  
use your technique a lot, but we just didn't bring much this trip. We  
really never got much in the way of casual clothing. Hey, maybe you  
can give us some tips on that technique while we're here. Some of the  
stuff we normally carry gets pretty uncomfortable."  
  
Chattering happily, or in Mousses case following grumpily, the old  
friends make their way out of the terminal.  
  
***  
  
Gentle tropical sunlight peeked past the curtains of the guestroom  
Ranma was using, slowly illuminating the western style bed. Sometime  
during the night, Nabiki had crept into bed with him again. He was  
never certain who she did that for, anymore, but he didn't mind in the  
least. It'd been a long time since he had last jumped out of bed in  
shock and dumped her on the floor, and he'd been waking up in strange  
places for a couple of years, now, so that didn't bother him.  
Nevertheless, a different sort of panic attack happened. 'Oh shit !  
We way overslept ! Gotta get going or else ...' Ranma's mind  
sputtered here. What did they have to do ? They always had to do  
something, didn't they ?  
  
Occupied by this conundrum, Ranma's mind didn't censor his hands like  
normal, and he absently started stroking Nabiki's hair. Eventually,  
he recalled Mousse and Shampoo the night before telling them to relax  
and sleep themselves out. "Elder Cologne's orders," Shampoo had  
smirked. They had mentioned something about having a charter flight  
that morning, but said that they'd be back in the afternoon.  
  
Finally realizing the amazing fact that they had nothing they had to  
do, Ranma turned his attention back to the beautiful young woman  
snuggled next to him. 'Beautiful ? Where did that come from ? Maybe  
Hallfreid's little speech effected me more than I thought.' he  
ruminated. 'This is Nabiki. The person who made me hurt Ukyo and  
Shampoo, and, well, freed me from from my parents and the fiance  
situation; and wouldn't let me join Akane, and well, she gave me  
another reason to live; and she drove me like a slave for years, but  
together we've accomplished more than I ever thought possible; she's  
used me for cheap thrills and sold me, even sold my curse for study,  
but ever since Akane's passing she's always been here for me, more  
than anyone has ever done, even Mom or Pops. Ah geez, I gotta admit I  
do like her. Maybe even l, l, love her. Akane, what'm'I gonna do now  
?' Ranma breaks off his thoughts, shaking his head in his confusion.  
  
Nabiki finally stirs and wakes, gradually woken by Ranma's increasing  
activity. Ranma finds his thoughts derailed by a pair of expressive  
chocolate brown eyes gazing into his. It was funny to see the same  
initial confusion in Nabiki's expression. "Ranma, why are we still in  
bed ? Don't we have to, uuhh, what do we have to do this morning ?"  
  
Ranma laughed, and for the first time in years, relaxed.  
  
***   
  
"So I decided to stay here when I found out that the rains and ocean  
are typically warm enough to not trigger my curse. That's why Mousse  
and I never bothered with those crazy boxes you sent us. Mousse, of  
course, stuck with me like a barnacle." Shampoo grimaces as fire light  
dashes across her features in the secluded beach cove. The remnants  
of a Saotome sized feast lay decimated in front of them.  
  
"Shampoo my love, that's not fair !" whined Mousse across the fire  
from her.  
  
"Quiet you. You're a good tour guide, but how many times do I have to  
say I don't love you ! Oh yeah, Nabiki, the other reason, as you've  
found out, is that the surfing is great ! It's as much a blast as  
flying !"  
  
"Yeah, I love it ! Only, how did you get so tan ? With all the ki  
manipulation and self healing techniques Ranma and Elder Cologne have  
shown me, it doesn't seem like I can even burn anymore, much less  
tan." Nabiki pouts from her own barnacle like position by Ranma's  
side.   
  
"Oh, you can selectively turn it off with a little concentration.  
I'll show you the trick tomorrow," a half tanned Ranma wearing only a  
pair of swim trunks puts down his last plate and stretches. He, too,  
had stopped wearing his anti-curse box some while ago, after failing  
to have need of it even once since they arrived. "Ah, that was great  
!" he sighs and leans back against his own surfboard, holding open his  
arm for Nabiki, who promptly takes advantage to snuggle.  
  
"So tell me, what's been up with everyone back in Japan ? I haven't  
heard much since Elder Cologne moved back home" asked Shampoo.  
"Except from Ryoga, that is. Somehow he manages to show up here every  
so often."  
  
"Yeah, he does that to us, too. I still haven't figured out how he  
does it. I mean, I've met him literally half way around the globe in  
the space of a week," Ranma shakes his head in amazement.  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.  
  
Nabiki picks up the narration with a slight frown. "Well, let's see,  
we didn't know to much about what was happening back home ourselves  
until we started this vacation. We tried to spend at least a while at  
home, but Ukyo and Kasumi are the only ones we could stand to be  
around."   
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.  
  
"Ukyo eventually accepted an offer to be adopted into the Saotome  
clan, which means a formal end to the feud and engagement. That and I  
still get to see her, which is great. She's still cooking  
okonomiyaki, but now Mom sees her as her responsibility, and is trying  
to set her up with just about anything on two legs," Ranma matches  
Nabiki's expression with his own frown.   
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.  
  
"Kasumi's doing great, too," Nabiki takes up her own part of the  
story. "She says she was inspired by us, and is in medical school  
herself, now. The same one we went to." She giggles. "She says the  
faculty there is a little put off by a normal Tendo."   
  
"Anyway, Ranma's parents and Daddy all moved in together, so Ranma's  
mother could take care of them," Nabiki continued.  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.  
  
"And that seems to have allowed the two old men to get even more  
stupid, if that's possible," Ranma smoothly interjects. "We hadn't  
been home more than 30 seconds, literally, when they started in about  
getting a priest, calling it a matter of honor. They only stopped  
when Mom 'reminded' me that I should by rights be carrying the Saotome  
honor blade instead of her. Apparently dumb and dumber forgot that  
I'm clan head, again."  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.  
  
"Of course, that just meant they tried the 'subtle' approach. Those  
two's idea of subtle was to try to steal our clothes and lock us into  
a room together." Nabiki bypasses giggling and passes straight into  
laughter for a second. "Not that Ranma's Mom was any better. I  
swear, the suggestions that woman tried to pass off on me about her  
'manly' son. And I thought he was a pervert."   
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.  
  
"Who else ? Oh, yeah, the Kunos." It was Ranma's turn again. "Kuno  
was pissed that he hadn't heard from his 'pigtailed girl', although  
that ditzy ex-cheerleader Mariko kept him from attacking me more than  
once a day. Feh - the one time I've regretted my Hippocratic oath.  
'Do No Harm', it says. I'd like to see Hippocrates deal with Kuno  
before saying that again."  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.  
  
"Come on Ranma, it wasn't that bad. It was almost fun charging him to  
call someone to come and pick him up afterward, for old times sake."  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Nabiki.  
  
"Anyway, it was all driving us nuts. So we were really glad to get  
Elder Cologne's message suggesting that we come and visit you two.  
Thank God the Kuno's didn't hear we were coming here"  
  
Shampoo and Mousse look at Ranma.  
  
"Um, " Mousse's neck appears to be stuck from following too many  
conversational volleys, "do you two do that often ?"  
  
"Do what ?" Ranma and Nabiki respond in perfect chorus, sporting  
identical blank looks. Shampoo slowly falls over backwards. Mousse  
only works at trying to unstick his neck.  
  
"Do you have any idea what that's about ?" Nabiki whispers to Ranma.  
  
"Not a thing. Maybe it's some weird Amazon thing. I hope it's  
nothing we have to learn," he whispers back. Speaking up, Ranma  
changes the topic. "So, who's up for a little sparring to work off  
that meal? Mousse, Shampoo, wanna try a little two on one ?"  
  
"Hah ! Saotome, you shall never defeat the two of us together !"  
Mousse cries as, neck finally fixed, he accepts the invitation and  
leaps to his feet, robes billowing around him.  
  
Nabiki sighs unhappily for a moment as Ranma slides away from her,  
dodging the opening barrage of, of, pineapples (!?) Mousse pulls from  
his robes. 'Well, this Hawaii.' she shrugs. 'Just so long as he  
doesn't pull a Kuno.' And even though she knew how it was done and  
employed the same trick herself, it was still amazing to watch Shampoo  
produce her trademark bonborii from within her one piece swimming suit  
as she too, grinned and leaped at Ranma.  
  
Gathering her knees to her chest, Nabiki smiles as she watches Ranma  
in action. Even though she could tell that Ranma was holding back  
quite a lot, he was grace and power personified. Ranma seemed to fade  
in and out of the long shadows of the bright moon and fire, seemingly  
barely redirecting Mousse or Shampoos' attack, but always with dire  
results for the attacker, sending them flying uncontrollably through  
the night sky.  
  
The last couple of weeks had been wonderful. It took them a while to  
be able to relax and let go, but Elder Cologne's advice had been  
right. The relaxed attitude, lack of pressure, and no schedule had  
been just what they needed. For the first time in years, Nabiki had  
time enough to think about herself and review her life, without  
pressure, without worrying about Ranma, and without being driven  
herself by the memory of Akane. It was eye opening. 'I'm not sure  
when it happened, but I love him', she admits to herself, broadening  
her smile. 'I don't know if I helped him or he helped me more, just  
by being there. I just know I don't want to even consider being  
without him anymore. Akane, I hope this is okay with you, little  
sister.'  
  
At that moment, she was forced to roll sideways to dodge a spray of  
sand thrown up by Shampoo's face. "Looks like you could use some  
help, Shampoo," Nabiki offered as she gave Shampoo a hand up.  
  
"Aiyaa ! I mean, yes ! I thought he was a doctor ! How in the world  
did he get so good ?"  
  
Together, the two friends jumped back into the fray. After some time,  
Ranma was finally cornered between the three of them, unwilling to use  
any of his more destructive moves, especially on Nabiki.  
  
"Gotcha you baka pervert !" crowed Nabiki, completing a throw of her  
own.   
  
"No, wait, don't throw me into the iiicccceee !!" Ranma-chan sputters  
as she extracts her head from the ice bucket, severely embarrassing  
Mousse at the sight of her bare chest.  
  
"See, I said you were a pervert, Ranma !" Nabiki and Shampoo  
collapse in laughter, ending the sparring for the night.  
  
***  
  
Late that night, Ranma and Nabiki lay under the stars in the warm  
sand. Nabiki is deeply asleep with her head on his shoulder. Ranma  
ponders, one hand in his pocket, holding tightly onto something small.  
'Akane, I do love her. I'm sorry. What do I do Akane ? What do I do  
?'  
  
Overhead, in the brilliant night time river of stars, a streak of  
light suddenly flashes a brilliant path. Ranma slowly nods,  
accepting. At peace, he wraps his arm around Nabiki, and he too falls  
asleep.  
  
***  
  
Shampoo, in her now typical garb of cut offs, shortened t-shirt,  
baseball cap and aviator glasses, points out the window of her  
helicopter. "There it is, Kilauea Volcano."   
  
Mousse takes over the narration in a practiced tour guide voice,  
speaking over the headset microphone and bug like headphones which  
allowed them to hear each other over the noise of the helicopter.  
"The volcano has been erupting steadily since 1983. It sends up  
130,000 gallons of lava a minute. Over 550 acres of land have been  
added to Hawaii island by this volcano."  
  
"Rivers of lava from this volcano has consumed over 181 homes, a  
church, and a community center."   
  
"We'll land just outside Volcano village, and catch a bus along crater  
rim road, and up to the crater overlook."  
  
Ranma and Nabiki plaster themselves to the windows appreciatively,  
dressed in matching outfits of shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Seeing  
the glowing lava spurt into the air, Ranma lets loose a long,  
impressed whistle. "I wonder how big of a Hiryu Shoten Ha whirlwind I  
could make with that as a source of heat ?"  
  
Shampoo twitches, causing the helicopter to jerk momentarily.   
  
"Don't you even dare, Ranma," Nabiki slaps him gently. "Do you want  
red hot lava scattered all over the island ? And how in the world  
would you turn it off ?"  
  
"Ow ! Sheesh ! Can't you people take a joke ?"   
  
Shampoo recovers and circles the crater another time before breaking  
off to approach Volcano village. As the near the village, a tour buss  
can be seen leaving the village and driving up the switchbacks on  
crater rim road.   
  
Nabiki spots it first. She points to a spot of otherwise unremarkable  
rock south and west of the village, near the edge of the greenery.  
"Is that rock bulging there, or am I seeing things ?"  
  
All eyes track the location that Nabiki points in. "You know, I think  
you're right", Mousse starts a response, but does not finish. The  
goddess Pele has come again to destroy and build the land.  
  
A literally earth shaking rumble splits the air, audible even above  
the rotors and engine of the helicopter. The light helicopter itself  
is thrown skyward by a blast of air as rock and lava spew explosively  
from the new brother to Halema'uma'u crater. From an aerial viewpoint,  
concentric circles of earth and dust can be seen thrown up by as the  
shockwave travels outward.  
  
Miraculously, the small helicopter escapes being struck by the flying  
debris. Shampoo is forced to use every bit of her highly trained  
reflexes to bring the small craft again under control.   
  
As the first wave of the explosion passes, however, it can be seen  
that the tour bus noticed earlier was not so lucky. A boulder several  
feet in size has struck the front of the touring coach, crippling the  
vehicle. Ranma, automatically engaging reflexes from the past several  
years of rescue work, had immediately started scanning for damage and  
sees the crippled coach, caught in the earthquake shockwave, tip on  
its side and slide forward and downhill toward the drop off at the next  
switchback. The several dozens of kph speed the bus had prior to this  
catastrophe now carried it forward uncontrolled toward it's doom.  
  
"Shampoo, get us close to that bus, now !" Ranma commanded in a voice  
compelling immediate obedience. As Shampoo tips the nose down, he  
continues, "Nabiki, how much stuff have ya got ? I'm just carrying a  
basic kit, one or two each of the most basic items. I left everything  
else at home."  
  
As he speaks, Nabiki and Ranma both start reaching out with their  
finely developed senses, and something truly remarkable starts to  
happen. A true master martial artist develops the near spooky ability  
to be able to sense her opponents actions almost before the opponent  
themselves knows he is going to make them. The intent of action is  
sensed in the opponents ki, and the master can even at times project  
his own ki to alter the actions of the opponent, controlling the  
timing and pacing of an encounter, or defusing or avoiding it  
entirely. If you ever find yourself facing such a master, you will  
likely never even notice it happening, you will merely loose, badly.  
  
Extended, this ability allows a master to sense nearly all that occurs  
around her, by literally sensing the concentration and flow of ki and  
intent. Ranma had trained Nabiki well enough that by now they would  
both use this trick to locate the victims they sought to treat and  
discern which of them would require attention in what order. What  
they did not yet realize was that this technique worked with each  
other as well. In a crisis (and often normally), they each knew what  
the other was doing, what the other intended, and sometimes even  
changed the others intent. It effectively allowed them to operate as  
a team with unheard of ability and efficiency. They rarely had to  
stop and consult the other, they rarely even had to deliberately  
communicate with glances, posture or body language. They knew,  
without even noticing it, what needed to be done to support the other  
at any instant, and simply did it.  
  
Highly trained groups of people could, and did, develop this level of  
coordination by training in specific actions, for example a team of  
professional athletes in a well practiced maneuver. Ranma and Nabiki,  
however, could show this level of spooky coordination all the time,  
flexibly adopting it to whatever the circumstance demanded.  
  
"Not much either. Some plasma and saline that's not out of date, a  
few I.V's, and some gauze." Nabiki was already, along with Ranma,  
releasing her seatbelt, opening the copter door, and edging onto the  
landing skid of the diving helicopter.   
  
"It'll have to do. I hate improvising, it uses so much ki. Shampoo,  
Mousse, get to the village and send what help you can. We'll be  
along as soon as we've secured this."  
  
At that, Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously stepped off the helicopter  
skid, still well over a hundred feet in the air.   
  
Mousse, freed from the task of preventing a head on crash into the  
ground which occupied Shampoo, gaped at the sight of Ranma and Nabiki  
apparently diving to their deaths, turning head down, no less ! Upon  
intercepting the roadway the pair's vertical speed was by some miracle  
transformed into a synchronized horizontal roll, so fast that it looked  
like large human sized balls rather than people. The ball like blurs  
ended with an crashing impact onto the front of the sliding bus, and  
resolved into Ranma and Nabiki both pushing against the splintered  
front of the bus and digging their feet into the ground, digging huge  
parallel grooves in the roadway under their feet. The grooves  
disappeared under the front of the bus, and reappeared from underneath  
the back as the bus continued to slide forward.  
  
How the mass of two people totaling less than 250 kilos made a  
difference to the momentum of a multiple thousands of kilo touring  
coach was unclear, but apparently it did. The bus could be seen  
slowing dramatically. Just before it stopped entirely, safely well  
away from the switchback, Ranma slipped to one side and slid one hand  
across the length of the buses roof as it passed him. Whatever he did  
caused it to open like a can of sardines, split cleanly from front to  
back. Nabiki appeared from around the front of the now motionless  
vehicle, and Ranma and Nabiki simultaneously grabbed the cut edge of  
the roof and peeled it back, rolling it up like a sheet of tinfoil.  
  
Wasting no time, both leaped into the revealed interior of the  
vehicle, filled with still screaming hapless tourists. Sensing the  
only serious injury among the people inside near the front, Ranma  
slid impossibly fast to where the driver was still buckled in the  
remnants of his seat, bleeding from the shrapnel like glass, metal,  
and rock fragments thrown up when the boulder had struck the front of  
the coach. A quick swipe with one hand, flickering with some ethereal  
energy, released the moaning mass of flesh into Ranma's other arm.  
The hand of the catching arm appeared to blur for a moment near the  
back of the driver's neck as it caught him, apparently causing the  
driver to fall unconscious.  
  
Ranma leaped again, the driver in his arms, clearing the bus and  
setting the man down on the roadway next to a signpost. Just in time  
he raised his hand behind him and caught the I.V. and bag of plasma  
Nabiki had lofted on a high parabola toward that spot a second before  
Ranma landed, between her leap carrying out two young children and  
bound returning to the bus for their elderly grandmother.  
  
Suddenly, bloody fragments of improvised shrapnel, some quite small,  
started flying off the driver Ranma was kneeling over. The fragments  
originated in a wave starting at his head and proceeding toward his  
feet, with the tattered remains of the man's clothing peeling back  
like an orange. All the fragments landed in a neat little pile a  
short distance to the side. During this process, Ranma's arms and  
hands were invisible the naked eye. When his hands again resolved  
themselves into visibility, like a CGI movie effect, the I.V. was  
magical attached to the driver's arm and the plasma bag, now hung from  
the signpost, was attached to the I.V.  
  
Ranma paused for just long enough to insure that the unconscious driver  
was breathing freely before joining Nabiki in evacuating the remaining  
two thirds of the passengers. Any passenger not caught up in shock  
might have noticed that driver was no longer bleeding and had a  
sparing amount of gauze covering the worst of his wounds, which were  
sutured shut. The man was squeaky clean, and a close examination of  
the smaller visible wounds would have shown them to be uniformly and  
cleanly cauterized, as if by the precise application of measured  
amounts of heat or energy.  
  
Seconds later, the evacuation of the bus was complete. None of the  
other passengers had suffered worse than a mild concussion or  
contusion, and Ranma had already eased these noticeably, apparently by  
the simple expedient of a touch. Even more remarkably, the passengers  
as a whole had ceased to panic, each in turn turning calm as she or he  
was carried out of the ruined vehicle by Nabiki or Ranma.  
  
As the flurry of action surrounding the coach had all happened in less  
than a minutes time, the small helicopter above them was still clawing  
out of it's hawk like dive. Finally leveling out, Shampoo turned her  
attention to the pillar of smoke rising from the new crater, not  
wanting her helicopter to suffer a repeat of the tour bus's fate.  
What she saw froze her blood. Glancing down, she saw that somehow,  
while she had been otherwise occupied, Ranma and Nabiki had apparently  
stopped the runaway coach, split it asunder, and evacuated all the  
people inside. Mousse was staring openmouthed at the scene below,  
apparently in shock. His shock turned to horror when Shampoo prodded  
him and pointed out what she had seen.  
  
Making a decision, Shampoo turned around and directed her flight to  
pass again low over the bus. Turning on her small P.A. system and  
boosting the volume to it's maximum as she approached, she called out,  
gaining the attention of those on the ground. "Ranma, Nabiki, the new  
lava flow. It's huge, fast, and it's heading for the town."  
  
Nabiki instantly turned toward Ranma, and as the helicopter passed low  
over the bus to fast to enter a hover or land, she leaped, receiving a  
boost from Ranma which placed the apex of her remarkably leap just  
below the whirling rotor and straight into the still open door Mousse  
had been in too much shock to close. Before she even stopped moving,  
one of her hands had darted into the sleeve of Mousses robe and  
reappeared with one of his chains, causing a cute duck like squawk of  
protest a few seconds later. Before he reacted, however, the chain  
was flung instantly out and down to where Ranma, at the apex of his  
own leap from ground to bus to air, was barely able to grab it. She  
extended the hand not holding the chain in time to catch Ranma's arm  
as he shot through the open door himself, pulling up the chain he had  
hung from, and finally closing the door.  
  
Picking up and slipping his headset on, Ranma reaches over Shampoo and  
turns off the P.A. "Can we reach the lava flow before it hits the  
town ?" he demands of the shocked woman.  
  
Thousands of years of selective breeding for warriors and a lifetime  
of training allow Shampoo to react, despite the sudden shock of  
Nabiki, then Ranma appearing behind her while still in mid-air.  
"We'll try". She again turns her helicopter, tips the small craft  
forward, opens the engine throttle, and increases the lift generated  
by the main rotor. Shortly, the tiny craft is racing toward the  
village at over 200 knots just above tree top level.  
  
"Mousse, contact air traffic control and raise a mayday. Make certain  
the people from that bus aren't forgotten about, either. They'll need  
evacuation before the new lava flow might change direction. Shampoo,  
bring me right over the head of the lava flow, fly Nabiki over the  
village, then land and do the best you can to help out, okay ?"  
  
In moments the small craft comes in sight of the village. Much damage  
is visible in the village, from both the initial explosion of rubble,  
and the accompanying earthquake. Small fires are burning in several  
locations, several buildings are collapsed, and the earth seems to  
have shifted underneath it, opening up a few crevices obviously not  
there before. Even worse, a massive wall of bright red glowing  
viscous rock drops down the mountain side toward the hapless village,  
cresting like one of the waves the group had been surfing the day  
before and moving faster than a normal man could run.  
  
Nabiki turns a worried gaze at Ranma. "You're not seriously going to  
try a Hiryu Shoten Ha, are you ?"  
  
"Nah, too bad, though." Ranma grins back. "I would have liked to try  
making lava powered whirlwind. Too risky, though. This is gonna be a  
bit harder."  
  
As the helicopter passes near the lava front, Ranma again drops his  
headset, opens the door, and flings himself toward the still open  
ground in front of the massive wave of destruction. A blast of cold  
air accompanies his exit. After another death defying dive and roll,  
a pillar of deep blue light begins to build around Ranma, standing  
seemingly unconcerned in front of the onrushing, incandescent fluid.   
  
A huge turbulence pops into nowhere behind the fleeing helicopter, as  
superheated air convecting off the lava flow suddenly encounters a  
beyond arctic air flow from Ranma. As the wave of lava approaches  
Ranma, it suddenly and precipitously looses it's incandescence,  
hardening into solid black rock with a deafening cacophony of  
poppings and crackings. The sudden cooling effect builds a huge hill  
of cooled basalt out of the lava in front of Ranma, and which begins  
to grow out to the sides as Ranma approaches and touches the suddenly  
created heap of rock to increase the effect. A half circle of  
suddenly cold and solid rock extends out from Ranma, building in depth  
and in height as the lava flow continues to wash atop it.   
  
Panting in effort, Ranma sees that the huge and growing solidification  
has begin to divert the deadly flow of lava onto a course that does  
not directly intercept the town. 'Just a couple more minutes here.  
Gotta make certain this lava dam is solid. Nabiki will have to handle  
the town until then. Hmm, that ravine over there, if I can get the  
lava into it, we'd have a couple hours at least to deal with the town.  
I need a ditch.'  
  
Straining even more, Ranma releases one hand from the wall, and splits  
his concentration. A brilliant glow begins to coalesce just above  
the palm of his free hand, growing in intensity until it outshines the  
lava, until it even outshines the sun. Screaming with effort, Ranma  
turns the palm of his hand outward, and a brilliant beam of light  
springs from his hand, impacting the dirt and rock in front of the  
diverting lava flow. A massive explosion seemingly near the size of  
the original eruption obscures the lava, and Ranma drags his hand  
through the air, walking the explosion in a gentle downhill line out  
to the ravine he had noticed, over a quarter mile away.  
  
Dropping his hand and falling to knees, Ranma droops his head, panting  
in exhaustion, but careful to keep his other hand still attached to  
the new basalt cliff in front of him and continue the cooling effect.  
Eventually, he is able to raise his gaze and examine his efforts, now  
visible in the settling dust. A massive ditch is taking the diverted  
lava flow from the end of his improvised dam, and sending it for now  
on a harmless course away from habitations. 'Good, it's working.  
Now, I gotta get down there and help.'  
  
Ranma staggers to his feet and stumbles downhill, panting heavily and  
moving, for the moment, only as fast as a normal person.  
  
***   
  
In the small village, Nabiki exerts her own not inconsiderable skills  
to clear away portions of the collapsed visitor center. Apparently, a  
second coach of tourists had still been at the center when the  
eruption occurred, and many of them were trapped in the collapsed  
shelter. Unfortunately, the large sections of roof and wall were too  
ungainly for any one person to lift away cleanly, not matter how  
strong that person. Lifting a section at one edge merely allowed the  
anything more than a few feet away from the lifter to collapse.  
Instead, it had to be chewed away at, beaver like, torn off bit by bit  
and tossed aside. Great care had to be taken during the process to  
insure that the surrounding debris did not collapse more and further  
injure a trapped person.  
  
Nonetheless, a thick, steady stream of material flew from her hands,  
interrupted only briefly whenever she reached another person. The  
people she found were quickly given first aid, stabilizing any  
injuries, then gently passed to Shampoo or Mousse behind her to be  
carried clear of the rubble.  
  
Ranma's belated arrival on site heralded an order of magnitude  
increase in the speed of the recovery process. By time time he had  
made his way down the mountain, Ranma had had a chance to recover to  
something approximating his normal speed. Mousse and Shampoo,  
therefore, felt the wind raised by his passage before registering him  
visually. Even to their trained senses, Ranma still operated at a  
high enough level that any difference in his performance was  
unnoticeable. To their eyes, he was still an almost untrackable blur.   
  
Nabiki, however, could sense the change. Automatically, she  
compensated for Ranma as much as she was able, but several of the  
feats he performed were simply still beyond her own level of  
accomplishment. She could clear unstable debris in minutes by chewing  
it away in pieces, Ranma cleared it in mere moments by disintegrating  
it whole cloth with measured infusions of ki. She should stabilize a  
wounded person, preventing further damage and halting a march toward  
death, Ranma could, and did, perform in situ surgery to repair  
internal ruptures and bleeding and knitted together torn and damaged  
nerves with his own life force to the point where the remaining damage  
would heal on it's own.  
  
What was worse, not only could she feel Ranma at the ragged edge of  
exhaustion, but their normal techniques to extend their endurance  
depended on their massive stores of internal ki. Ranma's ki was  
nearly exhausted in his battle with the primal forces of nature, and  
now he was being forced to make far more extensive use of his ki than  
normal due to their lack of equipment. Energy gulping ki claws were  
needed in place of scalpels, precisely directed ki generated heat was  
used to sterilize instead of standard cleansing solutions, torn blood  
vessels had to be cauterized or coaxed and provided energy to  
instantaneously heal instead of clamped or sutured, blood producing  
marrow had to be similarly supercharged to replace lost cells instead  
of using standard units of blood.  
  
Ranma, Nabiki knew from past experience, would not slow down until all  
of the people present were safe and removed from danger. Neither  
would she. She did what she could to help Ranma and compensate for  
his unusual weariness. Shampoo and Mousse's efforts were helpful as  
well. Today, however, it was not enough.  
  
Several years of close calls finally caught up. Pele, avatar of  
creation and destruction was awakened yet again. Seemingly annoyed at  
the audacity of a human ant impeding her work, the volcano shook  
again, and it did so at the worst possible moment.  
  
Ranma had just dropped into a small narrow gorge cut into the rocky  
ground by the first earthquake and eruption. At the bottom, a scared  
and hurt child was trapped underneath a splintered tree. With the  
little girl clinging to his neck, he had just crouched to leap when  
the aftershock struck. The combination of exhaustion and moving earth  
caused Ranma to stumble just as the tree he had tossed aside fell back  
down and the rocky edges of the ravine crumbled inward. At the last  
possible moment, Ranma threw the child upward, clear of the debris  
falling in on him. Like a great closing mouth, the vengeful earth  
consumed him, driving jagged shafts of splintered palm wood into him,  
and crushing him beneath shards of heavy sharp black rock.  
  
Nabiki automatically fields the falling child, despite the still  
shaking ground. Something is wrong, however. Why did Ranma throw the  
little girl up instead of carry her ?  
  
The feeling of wrongness continues to nag her as she calms and treats  
the child. The young one was almost the last person needing immediate  
attention, she could only feel one other person with serious injury.  
Mousse and Shampoo could probably handle freeing the last few  
uninjured but still trapped people.   
  
Setting down the child with her pretty dark haired older sister and  
dog (what a strange looking dog, were dogs supposed to have 6 legs and  
be blue ?), the feeling of wrongness snapped into sharp focus. The ki  
signature of the remaining serious injury felt familiar, far too  
familiar, in fact. As weak as it was, it had taken her a moment to  
recognize it, but it was Ranma's, and it was fading.  
  
Oh dear God, not Ranma. Please.  
  
Moving faster than she had ever moved before, even with all of her  
prior training, Nabiki found herself tearing at the earth, stone and  
wood of a collapsed ravine like a demon possessed, with no idea how  
she had covered the intervening distance. Right then she would have  
given her life for Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu technique. Anything to  
dig faster. Anything. Dear lord please let him be alright.  
  
At that moment, in one of those cosmic coincidences which prove that  
there is a God, Nabiki's prayer was answered. A voice in Japanese is  
heard to mutter nearby, "Where in the world am I now ? I didn't think  
the Serengeti had any volcanoes."  
  
"Ryoga ! Thank God ! I need your help ! Ranma's trapped ! Please  
!" Nabiki turns and screams in a voice made raw with sulfur and  
terror.   
  
"Nabiki ? " Ryoga momentarily has to retreat a step from Nabiki's  
vehemence. He was closer than she had known. Following the direction  
of her shaking finger though, he immediately discerned the problem.  
Jumping into the hole Nabiki had started, he touches his finger to the  
earth and mutters. The earth answers him with an explosion of flying  
rock and dirt. Ryoga touches the earth again, and again, and yet  
again, each time answered by a cloud of flying earth. Gently, he  
reaches for the body now exposed, and leaps out of the far deeper  
hole, setting Ranma's unconscious form down near Nabiki.  
  
Years of professional exposure to trauma somehow allow Nabiki to  
operate through her panic. Frantically, she tries to keep Ranma  
alive. Dear lord this is bad. Ranma's femoral artery is sliced open  
by a spear of wood high up on one thigh, he has several broken ribs  
driving into one lung, collapsing it, and she'd swear there's internal  
bleeding as well. Fortunately, she can tourniquet the artery, it's  
just low enough for her to be able to slip a coil of I.V. line above  
it, and she still has a breathing tube and hand respirator left, and a  
unit of plasma. Enough to keep him alive, she prays.  
  
Shampoo and Mousse both have heard Nabiki's scream, and come a soon as  
they are able. Seeing them, Nabiki cradles Ranma and makes her shaky  
demands. "Mousse, squeeze the respirator, slowly and evenly, and hold  
up the plasma bag. Shampoo, please, fly us to the hospital. There's  
one in Hilo, right ? That's only 40 kilometers ... he can last until  
then, he _can_ last until then."  
  
Shampoo nods and runs ahead to start the engine on her bird, followed  
by Nabiki and Mousse, forced to move more slowly by the demands of the  
unfamiliar coordination between them. "Ryoga, thank you. I owe you.  
Can you please help out the last few people needing it here, and then  
meet us in Hilo later ?"  
  
Ryoga also nods and turns back to the town, prepared to search it for  
anyone else in need of help. By now, the police, fire, and ambulance  
services were arriving from whatever the next major population center  
was, probably the Hilo Nabiki had mentioned. Stepping forward, he is  
caught by surprise by a small, cute, hexapedal dog, who catches his  
leg in an impossibly strong grip, improbably smiles, and somehow,  
talks. "Stitch help you." Oh well, this was less weird than the last  
time he had run into that Djinn in Antarctica.  
  
***  
  
A rumpled doctor speaks to a small group of medical staff in the  
emergency receiving room of the local hospital. "Thanks for answering  
your pagers so promptly. It hasn't hit the news yet, but I think you  
can all see what happened." A nervous chuckle sweeps around the room  
at the plume of smoke easily visible out the window of the hospital  
emergency room. "We're starting to get radio reports from Volcano  
Village, and initially, it doesn't look as bad as it could be.  
Nevertheless, it looks like we'll have any number of patients in the  
near future. We don't have time for much preparation, does everyone  
know what to do ?"  
  
"That's strange," he breaks off as he hears a helicopter approaching  
the hospital landing pad. "I didn't think we'd be seeing someone this  
early. Why didn't we get a call ahead on this ?" Gathering a pair of  
hefty nurses and a gurney, the doctor dismisses the rest of the staff  
to their preparations, and proceeds quickly to the helipad.  
  
He is greeted by the sight of a small private helicopter, not a  
medical one, emblazoned with the words 'Nihou Tours'. Through the  
cockpit window he can see the pilot is a young chinese woman with a  
baseball cap covering a mane of highly unusual lavender hair. He  
turns his attention to the opening passenger door of the aircraft with  
a snort for the odd preferences of youth. First out is a tall chinese  
man with long black hair wearing a robe far too heavy for the weather.  
He is holding a half empty plasma bag aloft, and doing something with  
his other hand not visible through the door. He is followed by a  
short brown haired Japanese woman who carefully climbs out of the  
helicopter cradling an obviously injured japanese man. It can now be  
seen that the chinese man is rhythmically squeezing the ball of a  
manual respirator.  
  
The surgeon pushes aside his thoughts at the odd appearance of the  
group and moves to help put the injured man on the gurney. The woman  
is obviously a health professional of some sort and quickly gives him  
an update of the patients condition, in an albeit shaky voice,  
supplementing his own quick professional examination. "Prep the  
surgery for this one, Ann. Grab Dr. Angles on the way. I'll scrub  
and be right in."   
  
Something clicks in his mind as he turns back to quickly reassure the  
woman following him. "Excuse me, but is your name Nabiki Tendo, by  
any chance ?"  
  
Seeing Nabiki's nod, he suddenly blurts out "Oh my God. Then that was  
Ranma Saotome ? I don't believe it. You two are famous !" Despite  
his age and professionalism, the doctor suddenly feels like a giddy  
first year medical student again. "Wow, I guess that explains why  
there are no serious calls coming in from Volcano village."  
  
"Doctor, please, Ranma ..." Nabiki manages to force out, grabbing the  
mans arm like a life preserver with her left hand, her right hand  
seems to be squeezing something. "Then you know about his curse ?"  
She finally manages. "If he should change size dramatically in  
mid-procedure ..."  
  
The surgeon nods, winces, and disengages his bruised arm. "I know, I  
looked up the journal articles on his curse when you two became better  
known for your rescue work. Hard to believe, but it was pretty  
irrefutable. Too bad the place was destroyed. No cold water, right  
?" He smiles reassuringly at her and enters the surgery.  
  
With events finally catching up with her, Nabiki collapses bonelessly,  
barely caught by Shampoo and Mousse and maneuvered onto a nearby  
bench.  
  
Softly, brokenly, Nabiki clutches Shampoo and sobs. "Shampoo, oh God,  
this is my fault. I made him do this. Was it worth it. Was the last  
six years, all that effort worth it, just to see him die anyway ? Oh  
please, say he'll be alright, say I did the right thing."  
  
"Mousse, what do I do now ?" Shampoo awkwardly cradles her friend and  
looks at Mousse pleadingly. "I don't know what to do."  
  
***  
  
Late that night, withdrawn and pensive in the dark, Nabiki sits beside  
the intensive care bed occupied by Ranma. He had been released from  
surgery a few hours earlier, but was in a coma and was given an  
uncertain prognosis. Illuminated only by the glowing monitors, it can  
just be made out that she holds an object in either hand.  
  
In her right hand she holds two halves of a small, crushed, and bloody  
box. Something in the box glitters as Nabiki moves. It is a gold  
ring, with small but elegant diamond placed in it. When Nabiki had  
examined the ring in the light of the bathroom, her name could be  
clearly seen engraved in the inside of the band, below the name of her  
younger sister. Nabiki had found this box in the pocket of Ranma's  
shorts when she was dealing with his sliced femoral artery.  
  
'I remember this ring. I loaned him the money for it, and helped the  
baka pick it out before Jusendo, all those years ago. I don't think  
he ever paid me back for it, in fact. But for me ? And why Akane's  
ring ? Does this mean little sister approves ?'  
  
In her left hand, she carries a ceremonial tanto engraved with the  
Saotome family crest. It is the same blade that, all those years ago,  
Ranma had made his promise upon.  
  
'And this, this, thing. This blade. This has never been welcome to  
me. Why did Kasumi give me this when we visited ? She said I might  
need it soon. For what ? To atone for my own failures ?'  
  
Clenching her fists Nabiki looks at Ranma in dark amusement. "How  
long have you been carrying this ring, Saotome ? I guess you still  
can't talk to women, can you, baka pervert." Slowly, her mood fades  
toward despair. "You can't die on me, you perverted baka, you can't.  
If the promise you gave me six years ago on this,' she looks at her  
left hand, 'means anything, then you have to survive and give me  
this.' she holds up her right.  
  
A quiet knock interrupts her revere. "Come in," she says with a small  
start.   
  
A large figure wearing an oversize traveling backpack is illuminated  
against the hall lights. "Wow. I think this is the fastest I've  
gotten to anywhere I wanted to go." Ryoga comments. Walking over to  
the bed, and seating himself on the other chair, he looks over Ranma,  
then Nabiki, and gently asks "How is he doing ?"  
  
"He's been in a coma since he got out of surgery. There was a lot of  
internal damage. They did what they could, but ..." Nabiki trails  
off. "It's ironic, you know, if our situations were reversed I'd  
already be walking around, he'd have performed a ki transfer and have  
jumpstarted my ki flows. I've seen him do it, and he's started  
teaching me, but apparently I just can't summon a sufficient focus for  
my ki yet. Not that he'd ever let me get hurt, the jerk." Nabiki  
pauses to wipe away some tears.  
  
This strikes another, ironic chord in Ryoga, "Heh, deja vue," he says,  
as he hands her a tissue. "That sounded a lot like Akane did. Don't  
tell me you've fallen for him now, too."  
  
Nabiki only sets the tanto down, reaches over, and grasps Ranma's  
unresponsive hand. She opens the other, to show Ryoga it's contents,  
forbearing to stop or hide the tears now.  
  
"Ranma, you still haven't changed, have you." Ryoga smiles softly.  
"Not that it matters anymore, but I truly forgive you now. That's  
probably why I found you so quickly." He turns to Nabiki and gently  
closes her hand again. "I never learned any of the rejuvenation  
techniques, and I guess I'm not surprised that he didn't teach you  
this way, Nabiki, given what happened to the two of us. But you  
should know you've got more than enough focus to use your ki for a  
transfer technique."  
  
"What ! Tell me ! Please !" Nabiki stumbles up from her chair and  
lunges at Ryoga.   
  
"Woah there !" Ryoga grunts quietly as he catches her. Some detached  
part of Nabiki notes that Ryoga is still more solid and harder to  
move even than Ranma.  
  
"It's simple enough. I'm surprised you didn't think of this yourself,  
you've seen both of us do it enough times. Use your emotion as a  
focus. You just need a strong, pure emotion as a focus to use. It's  
self destructive in the long term, as he and I found out, but it  
works."  
  
Nabiki hesitates a second before wrapping her arms around Ryoga and  
crying in relief. A short while later, she manages to pull herself  
upright, and claiming the tissue she dropped before, cleans her face  
ineffectually.   
  
She smiles, tentatively and brokenly, but a real smile nonetheless.  
"Ryoga, thank you. I owe you more than I can say. Can you, can you  
leave us for a bit ? I think Shampoo and Mousse are still in the  
lounge down the hall."  
  
Ryoga nods and gets up. When he's about to open the door, he hears  
Nabiki's voice again, in a reasonable facade of her old ice-queen  
persona. "Oh, and Ryoga. This didn't happen, got it ?" They both  
share a small laugh as the door closes.  
  
Walking down the hall, Ryoga is not surprised to see a gentle warm  
rose glow momentarily rise and fall in the window of Ranma's room.  
Opening the door of the lounge, sees a sleepy Shampoo and Mousse and  
asks. "Hey. Anyone hungry ? By the way, where does Hawaii get those  
weird dogs from ?"  
  
Back in the intensive care room, various monitors change their quiet  
beeps to a more lively, happier rhythm. Slowly, Ranma wakes up.  
  
Opening his eyes, he blinks away the gloom and sees Nabiki sitting  
beside him, apparently caught half way between laughing and crying.  
She seems to have a death grip on his hand.  
  
"Biki ? You okay ? Where are we ? Don't cry Biki," mutters a still  
groggy Ranma.  
  
Nabiki turns her face away for a moment, and with considerable effort,  
gains control over her features. Finally turning back, she picks up  
an object from the bedtable and places it atop Ranma's lap. "Ranma, I  
release you from your promise."  
  
"What's that ? What are you talking about Biki ?" Still confused,  
Ranma sees that he is in a hospital bed, fitted out with nearly as  
many monitors as he used to have to wear back as a guinea pig in med  
school.  
  
"Ranma, your promise to us, after Jusendo. As a representative of  
clan Tendo, I release you. And you know I hate it when you call me  
'Biki'."   
  
Ranma levers himself painfully upright into a sitting position.  
Looking down, Ranma sees that Nabiki has returned to him the tanto so  
symbolic of the path his life has taken since Akane. "Biki, um, I  
mean Nabiki ? What's wrong ? Why are you doing this ? "  
  
"Listen you Baka ! It's over ! You've done enough ! You can quit  
now ! You almost died, damn it ! You probably would have if Ryoga  
hadn't stumbled along !" Nabiki is shouting now, fist clenched and  
eyes flashing. "Don't you dare leave me !"  
  
Nabiki's control finally crumbles completely, as she opens her fist  
and holds out the ring. "I found this, Ranma. I love you." She can  
find nothing more to say.  
  
Ranma looks at Nabiki for a moment. Slowly then, Ranma's hand lifts  
the ring out of Nabiki's, and places it on her finger. "I won't leave  
Nabiki, I promise."  
  
He gives a small smile and teases "_Biki_". Nothing more is said as  
Ranma falls back asleep.  
  
***  
  
Authors Notes   
  
So, okay this should have been several chapters, it the largest one of  
this story by far. Still, it's done. Yay !  
  
Credit to Lilo and Stitch for the inspiration to place the story in  
Hawaii. I couldn't resist giving the little blue guy a guest  
appearance.  
  
As I disclaimed before, I'm not a doctor, I don't know medicine. I'm  
also not a pilot. I do occasionally pretend to be a martial artist,  
and the description I wrote of a master spookily feeling and effecting  
his surroundings is pretty close. I've seen myself recorded on video  
reacting to my instructors in the way I describe. I didn't realize it  
until they pointed it out to me watching the tape. Sparring certain  
of my instructors is like trying to spar a ghost, you don't hit them  
unless they want you to. 


End file.
